Before the Dawn
by Arwingmaster1
Summary: While on a patrol around the edge of a galaxy, Michael and his fleet are ambushed, battering his ship. In a last ditch effort, he and his shipboard AI, Fi, are sent into an unknown universe. A universe where a certain group of ponies are about to get a new companion at the beginning of their own journey. All OC submissions are on hold. Might be accepting later when I sort them out.
1. The Beginning of an Adventure

**A/N: Hello there, Arwingmaster1 here. I'm going to keep this short. This is my first fanfic, so anyone who reads this, constructive criticism is appreciated. I know this is not going to read out like a masterpiece at first, but hopefully it'll get there with any reviews and comments. Now please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own any ships or items described from HALO or their franchise. HALO is owned by Bungie and 343 Industries.**

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Patterns of speech:

_Thoughts_

"Speech"

Ch 1: The Beginning of an Adventure

_Well, not the first way I would choose to go…_

That was one of the things on my mind as I set the modified Paris-class heavy frigate to a collision course with the flagship on the view screen. During the battle, the MAC cannon was disabled and they were tearing away at what shields the backup generators were providing. Just 10 minutes earlier I had my crew evacuate and ordered a fleet wide jump to random coordinates, using whatever FTL and MV drives they had left. As for myself, I had stayed behind to act as a big red target to distract them as the rest of the fleet jumped. Now the _Column of Faith_ was the only green dot on the strategic map.

_At least I bought enough time for them to jump._

"Sir, collision course set. 45 seconds until impact" Fi, the ship's AI said over the com lines, soon a hologram appearing on the pedestal to my right. She had a look of sadness, but also one of determination, knowing this was the only option. The slip-space drives where shot and the MV core were overloaded, impulse was only working from diverting power from weapons and shields. It seemed the only thing I could do was wait until the ships collided and end my life.

"Well, it's been fun. If we try to escape via pelican, they'd shoot us out of the sky." I said as I looked at the ship growing in size on the view screen. I looked over to Fi, who, if anyone who didn't know better had seen her, would say she was resigned to the fate. But the smile she gave just then said otherwise. "Well, there is a higher possibility of surviving escape in one than staying in here" Fi stated with a smirk.

I knew exactly was she was thinking. "Hell, it's better than just sitting here waiting for it to come. If I'm going out, it's going to be in style."

_Hell, might even be able to avoid being blasted long enough to warm up the short-range FTL drive, _I thought to myself, keeping up what optimism there was left in the situation. _And getting blasted while dishing out, albeit, low damage is better than sitting in this giant tin can waiting to crash._

"I've lowered the power going to the engines so we can launch before the_ Faith_ hits" Fi stated as I ran to the last remaining pelican in the hangar. "And don't forget to pull me," she stated as I ran past the pedestal. I only took a second to stop and pull the data crystal out that housed the AI before I resumed my frantic dash to the hangar to my modified pelican. As I stumbled up to the controls of the pelican, I shoved Fi's data crystal in rather harshly getting a "ow" in response.

"25 seconds until impact" Fi announced, not helping the already stressful situation.

"Please stop announcing times and open the hangar doors" I partly shouted as I rapidly started the drop ship up, its oversized engines purring as they came online.

"Ok, ok, don't get your pants in a wad," she said jokingly in response, eliciting a small, brief smile from me. As the pelican lifted up off the floor, magnetic clamps releasing it from its place, the hangar doors opened and the air violently began rushing out of the large room, dragging unsecured fighters and crates and pulling on the pelican.

"Hold on, I'm going to shut off the bow thrusters and let the decompression shoot us out of the hangar," Fi stated as she proceed to do as she planned. As the ship gained speed, I hit the throttle and, while dodging many an obstacle, shot straight out of the hangar.

And right into the sights of a corvette.

"Shit!" As quick as the curse shot out of my mouth, a rain of fire hailed down on the pelican. I banked hard left as the initial shots narrowly grazed by. As the corvette rained its deadly hail of shots, the other ships noticed and joined in the large scale metaphor of shooting a fish in a barrel.

"Sir, not to be the one to point out the obvious, but we can't keep this up. We can't keep dodging there fire all day," Fi stated, much to my chagrin.

"I know, I know!" I shouted as a missile and many rounds of rail-gun point defense fire passed to the left, missing by mere inches. As they passed by there was an explosion to my right. I looked to see what it was.

There was a nice hole in the side of one of the _Faith_'s engines.

"Sir, the _Faith_'s engine two has overloaded, engine one is powering down. The course is slightly altered, but still on a collision course. She's decelerating."

I could only curse as it would take longer and do significantly less damage to the super-cruiser flagship. Then, an idea jumped into my head.

"We'll take cover using the Faith as a barrier between us and all this damn fire until the short range FTL's come online."

Fi's hologram appeared to my left, a look of contemplation on her face for only a split second before she answered, "That'll be cutting it pretty close, but it may be just enough time to work."

Before any other plans could be thought, even more ships joined in the onslaught and dodging was starting to become an impossibility. As more fire passed by my right, I banked left and took cover behind the relatively undamaged engine of the frigate, quietly hoping it would hold until we could open a slip-space portal to get out of this mess.

"Slip-space drive charging at 45%. This is REALLY cutting it close sir," Fi announced to me as I was paying more attention on what was happening in front of the _Faith_.

"Um….. Fi, what is that?" I questioned as energy began to buildup in front of the frigates line of trajectory.

There was a short pause as Fi compiled what data the pelican's scanners were giving her. Then, much to my chagrin, a look of surprise appeared on her face. I hated last minute surprises.

"Sir, they're using their MV drive to create a portal in front of the _Faith_. Scanning now… Sir, it's set for random coordinates, and we right IN its path. Sir, I suggest immediate evasive maneuvers."

While she was giving of info and suggestions, I thought ran through my mind, albeit a crazy one, but better than just jumping into their targeting system's sights.

"No, we won't."

Fi once again had that look of surprise. "But sir, that MV jump could rip us apart or-"

"-or," I interrupted "we could end up completely safe on the other side, with a salvageable frigate. It's randomized, so they can't track it easily and it would give us time to fix up the _Faith_ enough to make a jump into allied areas. Plus, now given this option, I'd rather risk this then give them some target practice for all of 10 minutes."

Before Fi could answer back, the front of the Paris-class frigate broke through the portal.

"Well here goes nothing," I stated before hitting the throttle, thrusting the pelican into the portal.

Then, all was white

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**A/N: Well there you go, the first chapter. Hope you all liked it. Next one brings in the PONIES! I'm planning on posting on a regular basis, but can't promise anything. Remember to leave a review, constructive criticism is much appreciated. Hope to see anyone reading this next time Arwingmaster1, out.**


	2. Unexpected Destinations

**A/N: Hello there again (assuming anyone is reading this…), Arwingmaster1 here. Update; might be changing the summary, but have to think of something first. Also, regarding the storyline, I WILL be changing some events in the MLP universe to better fit my story (AND CUASE I WANT TO). Now to give the disclaimer (bleh) and ask you to PLEASE review. That's that, so here's chapter 2.**

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**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own My Little Pony, any characters and such and the MLP franchise belongs to Hasbro. I do NOT own any ships from HALO, blah blah blah blah blah blah.**

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Patterns of Speech:

_Thoughts_

"Speech"

Ch 2: Unexpected Destinations

Normally, the Royal Canterlot Library was quiet at this time, since usually everypony was asleep that late at night. But tonight it was host to the noises of ruffling pages and frantic hoof steps echoing through the spaces between the large shelves.

"Come on Spike, there has to be something in here," Twilight, a purple unicorn with a black mane and a purple highlight whispered to Spike, her assistant, a dragon.

"Come on, Twilight…" Spike whined in retaliation, "it's almost morning, and I haven't had ANY sleep!"

"SHHHHH," Twilight hushed Spike. "Fine, we'll look just a little more, and then you can go get some sleep."

Twilight was on a mission. She had been reading up on folklore and legends, and one had caught her eye, the Mare in the Moon.

The story goes that Equestria was ruled by two sisters, Princess Celestia, who raised the sun; and Princess Luna, who rose the moon. There was harmony until the princess of the night wanted more power and for the night to last all eternity. Celestia, unable to reason with her power-hungry sister, used the famed Elements of Harmony to lock her away in the moon for 1000 years.

By the stories age, that account was just about 1000 years ago. After reading the story, Twilight had begun searching through any records about the Mare in the Moon, and her search for information led her here, the Royal Libraries, which she had been combing for 2 days straight.

"Hey Twi, I think I found something!" Spike said while waving a book around as he was balancing precariously on a ladder. Just after making that statement, Spike found the book magically yanked from his hand and gravity took his body on a personal visit to the ground, making a loud THUNK.

"Quiet Spike, ponies are trying to sleep," Twilight reprimanded. "Oh, this is it! Legend of the Mare in the Moon! Thank you, Spike! Maybe this will have more information in it about the Mare in the Moon and maybe the Elements of Harmony."

The compliment was half felt as Spike rubbed the sore spot on his head. "So, what does it say?"

"Well, let's find out," Twilight said, placing the book on a table and opening the pages.

Meanwhile, far above in orbit, the arrival of a certain pelican and a frigate will add a bit of short chaos to the already long night for Twilight…

{-}

"Exiting now," Fi shouted as the pelican violently shook as it left the MV* portal. "Unknown reality, nothing from our databanks. Planet below, life sustainable, multiple life signs detected. The _Column of Faith_ is at a standstill, just outside the gravity well."

As Fi was reading off the information the scanners were giving here, I took it upon myself to steer the pelican back into one of the intact hangars of the _Faith_.

I sat the pelican down, hangar doors closing behind me and pressurizing the room on the outside. After Fi gave the o.k. that the hangar had a breathable atmosphere, I got off walked over to a holo-pedestal and plugged Fi in.

"Give me a damage report," I commanded as I started prepping bags for the journey I had planned to the planet below.

"Pushy, pushy. Engine 2 is down, engine 1 operational at minimum levels, life support holding, long-range scanners offline, short-range scanners operational, long-rang communications offline, shields and weapon systems offline, MAC cannon offline, all FTL and MV drives offline, multiple hull breaches of which all are sealed, main generator operating at 15%, backup generators operating at 40%. Would you like fries with that?" Fi reported with a bit of a smirk.

_Well, could be worse, _I thought to myself, throwing the bags of weapons, ammunition, and gear onto the pelican. _Most of those are repairable with quick patches or just unneeded at the current moment._

"Get the drones up and working on repairs," I stated as I walked back on the pelican.

"And where do you think you're going?" Fi asked in an accusing way.

"I'm going down planet-side to scout it out. See if there is anything down there that is a danger to us up here, and maybe find an eventual landing-place for the _Faith_. It'll be a lot easier for me to help fix on the ground than up here in space," I stated, throttling up the pelican.

"Ok, but be careful. You know I can't save you this time if you get into trouble," Fi remarked with a wide grin showing over the small view screen of the drop ship.

"Come on, it's me. What could possibly go wrong?"

I soon regretted that statement not 3 minutes later.

"Engine 4 offline, engine 2….," I looked out to the left side of the pelican, "... on fire." The pelican was shaking violently as engines were failing while entering the atmosphere.

All the frantic pushing of buttons in hope to get some power back to the engines was not helped by the fact that my hands were now hooves.

_Great fucking timing for that to kick in,_ cursing to myself at the situation._ This NEVER happens at a time I want it to. Blending in is GREAT, but can't it wait 'till I LAND?! Of all the times I change, it's ALWAYS when I'm CRASHING!_

*Funny thing, the changing to blend in thing. It comes with multi-verse traveling. I think it has to do with the natural flow of the current universe you're in or something. Great thing is, after the initial change, I can go back and forth between the local form and myself. Don't know why it usually only happens to me, I just know it has kept me out of trouble more than once by helping me blend in with the local population. But, ponies… this was new.

And again; hooves, not helping with the failing attempt at trying to regain control of the pelican.

As I struggled with the controls of the pelican, a castle came into view… right in front of me.

"SHIT," I exclaimed as I pulled hard back on the yolk, amazed I can grasp anything with no fingers, hoping to pass just above it. The maneuver was partly successful as I grazed the right side of one of the tower, breaking off some of the bricks.

As the pelican got steadily closer to the ground, I noticed a small village with down in the valley below the mountain the castle was perched on. Off the side not far off from the village, there was a forest.

_Well, if I'm going to crash, that seems the best place to hide it_.

I piloted the pelican (albeit with some difficulty, hooves here) over the village, hoping I didn't attract any unwanted attention, and crashed into the dense forest, getting knocked unconscious in the crash.

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Note:

*MV drive: My character's ship and the fleet uses a Multiverse Drive, allowing travel between different universes and alternate realities along with being equipped with FTL drives (like slip-space). Just needed to clear that up.

*I seriously feel like that was WAY to cheap an explanation. I'll work on it and introduce it better in a later chapter.

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**Well, there you go, chapter 2. I had finished this a LOT sooner than I had expected. I think mainly in part is because I have no life and sit in front of a computer all night….. yeah… don't expect that too often. Anyways, I'm hoping for some reviews and stuff to help me know what I can do better. I can't help but feel I made some parts sound cheesy and rushed. On a different note, I'm hoping to get some cover art for this story up soon. Finally, to say it again, I WILL be changing some of the canon plotline, so it can fit what I'm doing here. Other than that, I'll just call it for now and get some sleep. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	3. The Mare in the Moon part 1

**A/N: Well, this took longer than expected. Had to rewatch episode 1 and I hit MAJOR writers block. A few things; one, I'm working on a cover art for the story, been occupying my time with writer's block with that. And two, you all know it, review PLEEZ. Give me your thoughts on how I'm doing and if I can get better. If you just sit there and complain about it (not saying any you do), the way I'm writing it is not going to change. I will appreciate any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism to help. Well that all, here is Chapter 3. TAKE IT AND LOVE IT!**

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** Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony or anything from Halo. If I did, do you think I would be sitting here typing this?**

** …..Don't answer that….**

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Ch 3: The Mare in the Moon Pt. 1

"What was THAT?!" Twilight was exclaiming from the cover of a table as something hit the side of the tower above the library, causing some stone to fall away to the ground below.

Not minutes before hand, she had been reading the book Spike had found on the Mare in the Moon before getting interrupted just after reading about the supposed location by something large and loud scraped against the side of the tower.

Soon after the sound had died away, there was a large crashing noise, and then silence.

And amazingly, not a single pony had been awoken by the commotion going on outside.

By the time Twilight had reached the window to see what it was, there was no sign as to anything had happened or to what had caused the sounds or where it went save for the pieces of stone on the ground.

"What was that Twilight?" Spike inquired, apparently not noticing Twilight was just as in the dark about what just happened as him.

"I don't know Spike, but I think we should tell the Princess about it," Twilight said, coming to a definant course of action. "We should also write to her about the Mare in the Moon. Quick, grab a quill. Dear Princess Celestia….."

{-}

_Oooowwww_

That was the only thought coming to mind as I steadily crept back into consciousness. I had planned on the landing being rough, but that was ridiculous. My head felt like the _Faith_ had just set down on top of it, and it wasn't getting better.

As I shuffled around getting my bearings and re-realizing that I was now a….. pony, I did a self-check to the best of my abilities. Mostly bruises and cuts which would heal no problem. The sensitive spot on my forehead indicated I might have hit my head during the crash and was probably home to a big nasty bruise and possible concussion. Lastly, I noticed, much to my surprise, a broken wing. The fact that surprised me wasn't that it was broken, but that there was a pair of wings on my back.

_First I get turned into a pony, and if that wasn't enough, now there are pegasi, could things get any weirder._

I stopped that thought process before it got anywhere as I checked the wreck of the pelican for the equipment I had packed and for any salvageable valuables. I pulled out the bags I had put in one of the storage compartments, which proved to be slightly difficult with hooves, and tossed them outside the pelican. I began sifting through the items to see what I had, laying them out as I checked. Plenty of weapons (courtesy of the UNSC when I had visited one reality of the Halo Universe): one personally designed MA5C assault rifle and 30 magazines of accompanying ammunition; one BR55 battle rifle with ACOG scope instead of the regular scope (ACOG courtesy of one Cpt. Price) and 15 mags of ammo; two boxes filled with 12 frag grenades each; a combat knife; and my personal favorite, my customized S2 rail-gun sniper rifle, slightly heavier than the regular S2 due to the rail-gun design, and fired a 50cal round 3xs as fast, 3xs as far, 3xs as hard.

As I was checking the equipment, a thought hit me, making myself face-palm….. hoof….. _How the hell am I going use this crap without changing back? Sure, the grenades and knife won't be a problem, but I can't pull a trigger without fingers._

I was forced away from that thought as the radio in the cockpit stirred to life.

"Adm….*static*…. Mi…*static*…. d….. copy….. Admira….do…..*static*…..copy?" I made my way over to the radio, answering back, "Yeah, I copy. How long have I been out?

"Hold….. on…..*static*….. Adjus… frequen… "Fi answered back, using the crippled comm systems of the _Faith_, "boosti…. power … an.. that.. should do it. I don't know exactly how long you have been unconscious, but I can make an estimation. The _Faith_'s short-range IFF readers lost your pelican about half an hour ago. I've been trying to contact you since then, but haven't had the range. I had to bring the _Faith_ into a high orbit. Engines 1,3,4 and 6 are all at minimum power and holding orbit for now, but will have to move away before I lose the stability of the orbit."

_Half an hour, huh…_ "If any locales saw me, they probably would have been here by now," I reasoned.

"Affirmative," Fi agreed," and, if you didn't know yet, the main dominant species seems to be groups of intelligent-"

"-ponies. Yeah, I know" I interrupted "kind of changed while crashing…. again…. "

"Yes… that's not all though. Short-scanners are picking up slight variations in DNA strands of these… ponies, three in total. Not sure what it indicates, but I have a feeling you either know or you're going to find out."

"I'm not so sure about that info. I know what one is, I'm a pegasi. What the other two are as good as anyone's guess."

"I suggest," Fi started, "that you go and learn about the locals seeing as we are going to be here for a while. The pelican is no way in flying condition and the even if you managed to get back up to the _Faith_, we wouldn't be able to leave the system, let alone the universe."

"Agreed. Plus, I just LOVE recon missions" I said, voice just dripping with sarcasm. " I hate running around and hiding. Just doesn't sit right with me."

"Well, it's the only safe choice. We know nothing on the inhabitants, and this is the best way to." There was a slight pause. "Got to be quick, I can't keep the _Faith_ in orbit much longer."

"Fine," I said, "get her out of the gravity well, but in a week, I'll be expecting you to check in. Don't want to be stranded here with just a bunch of ponies as company."

"Yes sir," I could hear the smirk on Fi's countenance," _Column of Faith_, out. Talk to you in a week."

"Copy that, out."

After cutting off the radio and gathering up the supplies back on the pelican, save for the knife which I had strapped to one of my legs, I turned towards the direction in which I had seen the village and started walking, getting chills from the forest around me as I proceeded into the darkness.

{-}

"…. To supervise over the preparations and to make FRIENDS?!"

Twilight couldn't believe what she was reading. The Princess had basically just ignored her. Sure, the chances of her believing something had hit the tower was slim since she was asleep coupled with not a lot of damage, and even the story of the Mare in the Moon, but she always listened to her, her personal protégé, but she just, albeit nicely, brushed her off.

She didn't know how to feel.

"Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure she is going to look into it. She might just have other things on her mind," Spike said, trying to comfort Twilight.

"That has to be it," Twilight tried to convince herself, though failing miserably.

"Well, let's get to bed, maybe you'll feel better after some sleep before we head out"

"Yeah…."

{-}

Unbeknownst to most below, something was stirring in the night sky that wasn't the frigate as Twilight went to sleep and Michael, the Fleet Admiral–turned–pony walked through the woods.

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**Well, there you go, after an immensely busy week and a bit of writers block, ch 3 part 1. I feel like I may have cheated all you readers or something…. Nah. You guys learned the name of my character which I COMPLETELY didn't just come up with…so… yeah…**

**Note: The rest of the mane 6 (get it, MANE) will come along soon. Might skip most of the introductions though seeing as if your reading this, you have pretty good knowledge of the show… …..hopefully…**

**ANYWAY, part two should be up soon seeing if I don't get slapped in the face with the brick known as writers block again and HOPEFULLY I'll get that cover art done. That's it for now, hope you enjoyed and to see you in the next part. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	4. The Mare in the Moon part 2

**A/N: Welcome back to anyone who comes back to read this. Your interest or sympathy is well taken. Hopefully it's interest that is bringing you back to this humble writing I call a story. I went back and watched season 1 episode 1 again, and realized I wanted to keep a few things. I went back and changed a few details in the story, nothing major mind you. Secondly, I changed the summary. Good to know I still suck at those. Thirdly, I figured out I had anonymous reviews turned off so anyone who was…. well… anonymous couldn't review. I had completely face-palmed so hard, I hit the inside of the back of my head. It's on now, so maybe some reviews…. pleez? Finally, sorry for the long wait. I got pretty busy and lazy at the same time. School and writers block don't solve themselves you know. Neither does completely pwning some games. Also, I'm hoping to spend more time on chapters, so more content in each chapter, but longer waiting periods. Well, that's my two cents, on to the *gulp* ****_disclaimer_****….. and then the story.**

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**Disclaimer: I really get why other writers hate this. I mean, c'mon. Who is stupid enough to say 'I OWN 'DIS SHIT!'? I will say I own my OC. I don't own My Little Pony or any Halo related objects. All characters and objects are owned by their respective groups: MLP to Hasbro, Halo related stuff to 343i. I CLAIM THE REST! ( I get a feeling I shouldn't have said that…. meh.)**

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Ch 3: The Mare in the Moon Pt. 2

The sun was beginning to rise, ushering in a new day in Ponyville, a town next to a dense forest. At this time of morning, most of the residents were either still asleep or just getting up, not yet on the streets. But there was one pony walking along that had just came out of the forest, observing everything he saw to familiarize himself with the area.

_C'mon. It couldn't have stayed night just a little longer for some recon?_ I complained to myself as I quickly trotted through the relatively small town, soaking up as much info as I could and trying to find suitable cover in case someone decided to peek outside.

My eyes soon fell upon a cloak hanging on some line outside, no doubt ably hanging there to dry. I quickly made my way over and retrieved it, struggling to put it on, painfully moving the broken wing in the process.

_Sorry, but whoever this belonged to just lost a cloak._

I had decided to keep to whatever shadows there may be and learn about the local residents so I wasn't at a complete loss as to the world I was on. And hell, it's better than just sitting in the pelican for a week waiting for a status update from Fi. Another plus for this was that I could figure out if anyone, or for their case, pony had seen the pelican and where it had crashed. I didn't want anyone dropping in on it or retrieving the equipment from it. Keeping the technology away looked like a good plan to, as to all I had seen from this village was some houses of relatively old design, using mostly wood and there was no use of electricity for what I could see.

_So, great, stone ages._

Not soon afteraccomplishing getting the cloak on, I could hear talking and some doors opening. Not wanting to draw any attention to myself, I made my way around the nearest corner, staying out of sight of any of the ponies. When I got to a small alley between two houses I stopped, turned around to see if any of the now active ponies had seen me and, after seeing that wasn't the case, stopped to take a break.

"Man, what have I gotten myself into," I groaned. Not soon after, I pushed myself back up and put the hood of the cloak on. "Well, time to get to work."

As soon as I turned to walk out of the alley to mix with the crowd, I noticed something descending from the sky. It wasn't a plane, a drop ship, or fighter, it looked like…..

…. a chariot, pulled by two pegasi….

I sighed as I watched to where the chariot would land.

{-}

Twilight looked over the edge of the chariot as it descended to the town below.

"I still can't believe this," Twilight continued complaining about the letter from last night.

"Well, maybe she's right. You might just need some time out of the castle, meet new ponies, fresh air and all," Spike answered, tired of hearing about the reason of the trip constantly and wanting to change the subject.

Twilight was slightly taken aback at Spikes answer, "Who's side are you on? You were there last night, and you read the book too."

Spike just ignored this as he pointed out they were close the ground. As soon as the pegasi had come a stop, Twilight jumped out and looked around as Spike climbed from the side to Twilight's back.

"Well, let's-" Twilight started before she noticed a strange cloaked pony standing at the corner of one of the houses in the shadows. The fact that a pony was there wasn't what got her attention but that this pony seemed to be not just looking her direction, but staring right at her, or even studying her if she had been able to see their eyes. Just as Twilight was about to say something about it, the cloaked figure slipped around the corner, leaving a slightly nervous Twilight.

"Spike, what was that," Twilight asked, getting a feeling in her gut she didn't particularly like.

"What was what?" Spike asked, not knowing what she was talking about having not been paying attention while trying to climb on Twilights back.

Twilight stood there staring at the spot for a bit before answering, "Nothing, it's nothing." With that, Twilight continued into town to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.

{-}

I stood there, looking at the pony that had stepped out of the chariot, a bit surprised for two reasons. One, the pony seemed to have had an overgrown lizard, or a dragon, on her back, which also seemed to be capable of speech. Two, she noticed me. Not many people have good attention to detail, and, in this case, neither do some ponies. I was surprised at that because all the time lingering so far, none of the ponies seemed to have noticed me.

_This is going to be interesting._

I then proceeded to break cover to follow this pony, getting a feeling that something might happen.

{-}

Twilight had spent all day meeting with most of the ponies working on the preparations, and she was a bit dismayed that she hadn't had any time to do some research in the library she was lodging in. Pinkie Pie, a resident pony of Ponyville had gathered the whole town for a party, right in the library downstairs. Now Twilight was laying on the bed, staring out the window.

_I hope the princess is right, that it is just an old pony-tale._

Spike then came through the door, wearing a lampshade with streamers on it. "C'mon Twilight, it's time to watch the sunrise!" Spike exclaimed, rushing back out the door.

Twilight rolled off the bed onto her legs and walked out the door, still hoping she was wrong.

{-}

It was a bit too crowded for my liking.

That's how I felt the….. town hall felt as ponies began to pile in. Some of the pegasi had opted out to just hover above our heads than to stay on the floor, which was now cramped with unicorns and, from what they've been called over the day, earth ponies.

I had spent most of the day following this Twilight around, and was rewarded greatly for it. I had learned a trove of information while following her, including eavesdropping in on what they thought was a private conversation about events that were to happen tonight. Something about a mare, moon, and some sort of elements. After that, I had broken away from the side of what I was surprised to see was a library IN a still living tree. I had taken upon myself to see town a bit more, while under the cover of night and while most ponies were at the party they were having in the library.

_Funny place to hold a party_, I thought as I recollected the day. Now I was standing near the back of the undersized town hall, trying to stay out of any of the ponies ways, not wanting to draw attention to myself as I already was with the cloak. I didn't like being in such a crowded space during recon, but it was the only way I could keep my tabs on Twilight, as she was up front near the stage.

I noticed all the ponies she had met with earlier were there, if I could remember what they said their names were. If I was right, Pinkie was standing near Twilight at the moment, but she kept jumping around it was hard to keep track. Applejack was wandering around the crowd, trying to get a better view. The blue one, Rainbow Dash was it, was hovering above the crowd, but not by much. Flounder… no…. Fluttershy was over near the birds, as it would seem that they would be providing an opening hymn or music. And the fashion obsessed one, Rarity, was up on the balcony above the stage holding a rope. I assumed she was to pull back the curtains, revealing this Princess Celestia I've heard so much about.

Overall, nothing seemed wrong, but I was getting this feeling that something was about to go down, and seeing Twilight nervous reinforced that feeling.

_I wonder what she's hiding…._

The thought was cut off by the sound of the Mayor giving an opening speech. I half tuned her out to keep track on what was happening around me, more specifically, Twilight. She seemed to have tensed up at something, but I wasn't sure what. My attention was diverted though when I heard the Mayor speak a bit louder.

"….our ruler, Princess Celestia!"

All the ponies looked up to the balcony as I saw Rarity pull the rope pulling back the curtains.

There was some inactivity with the exception of Twilight's constant fidgeting and some whispering. I saw Rarity approach the balcony, saying something nobody, or in this case, nopony probably wanted to hear.

"She's GONE!"

There was numerous audible gasps and Pinkie saying something, but I couldn't quite here it at the distance I was at.

Then there was a laugh. Not the happy kind either. I looked up towards the balcony yet again, sighed, and steeled myself the monologue I knew was coming.

I decided to distract myself from the speech the new arrival was giving, still picking up pieces here and there. I tried to keep focused on Twilight who seemed to be answering a question asked to all in attendance.

"You're the Mare in the Moon. Nightmare Moon."

This caught my interest and started to listen in on the whole conversation.

"Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

"You're here to… to…" Twilight started, but seemed to scared to finish.

"Remember this day well," the supposed Nightmare Moon started, "for it will be last. From this day on, the night, will last, FOREVER."

_Que dramatic show of power,_ I thought just as lightning bolts seemed to appear from nowhere. At this point I decided to take my leave, not wanting to get caught up in what I assumed was going to be chaos afterwards. I made my way out the door, but not long after I exited, I heard rustling from inside and I quickly hid myself. This showed to be wise as I saw what I thought was Nightmare Moon as mist traveling out, followed by one Rainbow Dash, though she stopped midair and said something to herself. At that moment, I distressed Twilight ran out and towards the direction of the library, carrying an unconscious Spike on her back, followed by the group of ponies aforementioned shortly after.

I took a moment and then followed behind the group, staying to the shadows as I went.

The trip proved a quick one, as I looked into one of the windows, eavesdropping in on their conversation. Twilight seemed to be reading off something about the elements of harmony to the other five and that the elements were the only way to defeat Nightmare Moon. At this point I step down to go over my options.

One, I could help them out in whatever it was that they were doing. This would please me greatly to do if not for the rules I myself had set into place. Two, I follow protocol, and just observe unless intervention is ABSOLUTLY necessary. _Not a whole lot of option_s, I thought to myself. The door to the library abruptly opened, and the six mares made their way in the direction of the forest I had crashed in. This made me quickly decide to follow them, if not to help, then to make sure they don't find the crashed pelican and my equipment.

{-}

_I should have just stayed back near the pelican crash,_ I thought to myself.

After successfully diverting the group away from the broken trail that led to the crash, I had decided to follow them, to see just what else would happen. Not my smartest of moves.

After dealing with what one of them described as a manticore and crossing a very rapid river by calming a very self-conscious serpent, I made a few slip-ups and they are now ever weary of my presence. They yellow one, I believe they said her name was Fluttershy, noticed me once, but I successfully retreated out of site, the group just thinking it was her over active mind. But not soon later_, _Twilight caught a glimpse of me and now the group was keeping a look out for their pursuer as they made their way to their destination.

My bad luck seemed to keep coming as the forest cleared up at a ravine with a broken bridge. Hiding myself becoming harder, I hung back and watched from the top of a tree I managed to get myself in. As I got situated on the branch, I noticed Twilight started running straight for the ledge.

_Not as observant as she thinks she is, _I thought. I would have gone down and stopped her from plummeting to her doom if I hadn't seen Rainbow Dash grab her beforehand. They muttered a few things, and then Dash flew down, grabbed the other end of the bridge, and continued to bring it to the other side. As she landed on the other side, the fog thickened between her and the group, making seeing the other side impossible and the bridge slacked a bit. There is stayed, motionless for a good 5 minutes. I could see Twilight and the rest of the group shifting nervously and they called out to her. Soon after, the bridge gained some tension and the cyan mare came through the fog, it dispersing as she did.

_Yeah, that wasn't natural,_ I decided, _that Nightmare Moon figure probably was behind that._

I saw them proceed across the bridge and decided to shift position to get ready to get down from the tree. Bad idea.

As I shifted my weight the limb I was on protested against the movement and gravity took over. The limb snapped and I tumbled to the ground landing on the broken wing as a reward. I quickly picked myself up despite the pain and checked if the commotion had gained any attention. Lucky it didn't.

_DAMN! That hurt, _I exclaimed in my thoughts. Ignoring the pain I proceeded to follow them, slowly as I tried to relieve some of the pain.

Across the bridge, which seemed decrepit and ignored for ages, was a castle which was in an obviously worse condition than the bridge. I heard voices on the second floor and climbed up the side with some difficulty. As I got a view on the inside, I saw the group gathered around 5 stones talking amongst each other. Twilight said something about Elements of Harmony, a spell, and something after that and the others left the room.

_Must have asked the others to leave so she can concentrate on a spell,_ I assumed as I was proven right, her horn lighting up with a pinkish aura. While she was concentrating, she didn't notice the dark mist come up behind her and start picking up the elements. When she did, she was teleported as the others rushed into the room after hearing Twilight exclaim.

I jumped down from my perch, thinking on what just happened. _Simple teleportation spell, they couldn't have gotten far._ My theory was proven right as I saw some activity in the adjacent tower. I quickly made my way up to a window as Twilight was preparing to charge at Nightmare Moon.

"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?"

_She has got to be kidding,_ I thought as Twilight rushed towards Nightmare Moon. _ Apparently not…_

Nightmare started charging towards her as I began to start making decisions. _Ok, she doesn't seem to have a different plan, no magic. One, I jump in and save her so she can do whatever she needs to do and get out. Two, I let this continue on and have to deal with_ _this eventually._ They were getting really close at this moment. _Aw screw it._

At that moment, I broke the one most important protocol I set in place with one simple insult.

"HEY YOU UGLY HAG!"

{-}

Twilight readied herself for the impact. She hoped she could daze Nightmare Moon long enough to get to the Elements, and charging at her head on was what came to mind. She was having second thoughts as she neared, but steadied herself knowing it was too late to change her plan.

Then something happened that completely caught her and obviously Nightmare Moon off guard.

"HEY YOU UGLY HAG!"

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a cloaked figure ram into Nightmare's side, knocking her to the ground. As she stood there, she realized it was the cloaked pony from when she arrived in Ponyville. She was astonished to say the least. She was even more astonished as this mysterious pony started talking to her.

"Well, what are you just sitting there for!"

{-}

You would figure that given the opening, anyone sensible would have taken this opportunity to do whatever they needed to be doing. But no, instead of doing this all-important task that she was so bent on doing, she just sat there, mouth agape. This unnerved me a bit.

"Well, what are you just sitting there for!? Do what you need to do, I'll keep miss Night-a-lot over here busy."

She still just stood there.

"Well, GO!"

She snapped out of her amazement and continued on to the 5 stones on the other side of the room as Nightmare began to pick herself back up.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME," Nightmare yelled. Apparently she didn't take to me ramming her lightly. I decided to instigate her further to by Twilight some more time.

"Well I usually don't ask permission from people, erm, … ponies like you. Of course, you're a so full of yourself, I wouldn't have asked anyway, but to make you feel better, next time I'll will."

She apparently didn't take well with the sarcasm I was giving her, that assumption quickly verified by her answer back, "I WILL END YOUR PITIFU-"

I interrupted, "May I?"

She donned a look of confusion,"Wha-"

At this moment, I quickly closed the gap between us and rammed her again. She wasn't as thrown off this time, but it angered her just as much if not more.

"YOU FOOL!"

At this statement I found myself lifted off the ground, surrounded in a dark aura. _This isn't going to end we-_. Before I could finish the thought, I was thrown across the room into a wall right on my injured wing. _DAMN THAT HURTS! _, I thought. As I shook my head clear I looked up towards Twilight, noticing her FINALLY getting to where these elements were. As my vision faded black, I could hear the others of the group coming.

{-}

Twilight sat in the lobby of the hallway of the Ponyville hospital. Not long before, they had beaten Nightmare Moon, freeing Princess Luna, and retrieve the wounded pony and brought him to the hospital. No-pony had any idea who he was. Pinkie assured her that he wasn't a resident of Ponyville or has ever been here. None of the others seemed to know, either.

So no-pony knew who he was and, more importantly to Twilight, why he was following them in the Everfree Forest or why he helped. They were all waiting there, including both princesses, for the doctor to come out and tell them his condition. After another 15 minutes of waiting, the doctor came out.

"So, what's the situation?" Twilight inquired.

"Well," Nurse Redheart began, " there were some broken bones in one of his wings and had some scrapes and bruises. Other than that though, he's fine, which is amazing if you say he hit his head hard enough to knock him out. There were no signs of a concussion. Just some nasty bruises on his head."

_Wings?, _Twilight thought,_ I didn't notice any wings. Of course he was wearing a cloak._ "Can we see him?"

"Of course, he's right in this room over here."

Twilight and the rest followed the nurse over to one of the rooms, hoping to question this pony and thank him. Much to the surprise of the whole group, though, the room was empty and the window open, the mystery pony no-where to be seen.

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**THERE! END OF CHAPTER! Too many complications came up along the road to this chapter. Sorry it's late. HATED my writers block and school kinda took priority over this. Plus c'mon, Assassin's Creed III isn't going to beat itself. So, Michael has gained some attention, but was able to avoid an interrogation from the lecturing Twilight. Yeah…..**

**So, Thanksgiving week is right in my grasp, and that's a week of relatively NOTHING, so if I solve my case of chronic writers block and gamer laziness, I'll have another chapter or two out next week. Other than that, just look up to the beginning note to see what else. Hope to see anyone in the next chapter! Arwingmaster1, out. **

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** Review! TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS! YOU WILL DO AS I COMMAND! Click the button! CLICK IT!**


	5. Breaking Protocol

**A/N: Welcome back to another installment of Before the Dawn. My name is Arwingmaster1, and I'll be your host this evening, day, or morning. Today we have some review responses to sink your teeth into. Enjoy!**

**Skullcrusher206: I thank you for your advice and will try to keep to it in ongoing chapters. I did say I might be accepting OC's, but that is still on debate, at least until later chapters. On your question as to when he turned into a pony, I didn't write in the moment he did, just after the fact. He turned into one as he entered the atmosphere, after the malfunction with the pelican's systems. As to why, there are two reasons; the story reason and my reason (got the semicolon right that time lol). My reason, is because I can. The story reason, he's part of a faction of inter-universal explorers known as the UUA, and inter-universal travel comes with perks (or complications, depending on the situation), such as shape change. I'm not going to go into much detail as who the faction is, as it will be explained in the story. So travelling between universes = body change pretty much, to fit in with the universe they are in.**

**ShiningShadow1965: Thank you for your positive reviews! I'll definitely head over and read some of you and your wife's work.**

**Game show style aside, here is the next chapter. Enjoy it, ENJOY IT I SAY!**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own My little pony, Blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't own any Halo related items, yada, yada, yada. Don't sue me.**

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Ch 4: Breaking Protocol

**UUA First Fleet**

**SFG-0041 ****_Under the Shroud_**

**Location: near last known location of FFG-1028 ****_Column of Faith_**

Captain Peterson stood on the deck of the currently cloaked stealth frigate looking at the view screen in the ship's CIC. On it, he saw many UIF ships jumping away, but he wasn't paying attention to them. Those were just complications he saw leaving. He was more focused on what had been there, but isn't.

After Admiral Michael ordered the recon fleet to emergency jump, Peterson had ordered his ship to cloak and to jump back. He wasn't about to leave his Admiral and good friend behind. But, what he saw outside the view screen perplexed him.

_Where is the wreckage, _he thought.

Out of all the wreckages they had scanned as the enemy fleet jumped, not noticing the stealth frigate, none of them matched the _Faith_. _The UIF wouldn't take ships, and a critical reactor overload wouldn't have completely destroyed the ship._ He stood therethinking this and a thought came to mind. "Ensign, scan the area for any readings of MV or slip-space jumps around this area," he pointed out the area the _Faith_ was in before the emergency jump on the ensigns overlay. "Yes sir," the ensign quickly replied and started his task.

_The hell I'm going to let you get yourself lost, _Preston thought as he awaited the results.

{-}

I reopened the pelican's rear doors, the hydraulics making disturbing noises of compliant as they slowly lowered the ramp at a pace gravity didn't want to go. It has been a week since first arriving rather abruptly to this planet and this re-contact with someone on the outside was over-due. The whole week was rather boring seeing I couldn't really do much, with trying to stay undetected and all. Even after a week, those six mares were still keeping an eye out for me and they had enlisted the help of the whole town, making it almost impossible to sneak around to eavesdrop and recon.

"Man, they're persistent,"I said to myself as I powered up the communications on the pelican.

"Michael to _Faith_, come in Fi," I announced, seeing if Fi had moved the ship into a better position for communications or if the long-range comms were fixed. Apparently one had happened as the radio came to life.

"I copy. So, how was your week?" Fi questioned.

"Hectic. I broke protocol to save one pony's life, one named Twilight Sparkle, and now I'm apparently on their most wanted list. They have the whole town near the forest on alert to look out for me. I don't know what they want, maybe to thank me, but I'm not breaking protocol again. I feel like a damn hypocrite, breaking my own protocols."

"Did you feel it was the necessary thing to do?"

I sighed and answered, "I know where this is going. Yes I felt was necessary and the right thing to do. Still doesn't help with me feeling like a hypocrite."

"Well, what's done is done. Now I'm pretty sure you want the reports on how repairs are coming," Fi said, helping get off the subject.

"Yeah," I said with a smirk, noticing Fi change the conversation. "Ok, what's new up on your end?"

"Repairs are coming along quicker than expected," Fi started, "All engines are back online at 50% power and the _Faith_ is now re-capable of holding a stable orbit within short range communications. MV and all FTL drives are still offline. Shields are offline. Weapons systems are only partially functional. MAC cannon offline. Long-range communications are offline. Long-range scanners are back online. Main generator now running independently at 45% power. Backup generators back to full capacity and on standby. Still multiple hull breaches that aren't going to get fixed anytime soon."

I thought over this information for a bit before asking, "What parts of the weapon systems are operational?"

"Missile Pods A1 through D3 are online. 2 port batteries and 4 starboard batteries functional. CIWS systems are online. Total munitions are at 70%. I guessing you're expecting trouble from a certain group of people who gave us all these nice holes in the ship." Fi stated.

"It's a possibility. Doesn't hurt to be prepared." I looked out the front of the pelican, noticing it had gotten quite dark. "Fi," I started, "I'm going to go recon some more. In the meantime, try getting the MAC cannon and shields online. If any of our friends from the UIF show up, I don't want to be caught off guard."

"Copy that, _Faith_ out."

At that I powered off the radio and headed towards Ponyville to begin my usual night recon.

{-}

Rainbow Dash, in a word, was drunk. Pinkie had held yet another party in the library (much to Twilight's displeasure), and didn't skip out on the alcohol. Rainbow had enough to know to quit, but not enough to leave her completely intoxicated. Before leaving the party, Twilight had offered her to stay in the bed upstairs in the library and the others offered to walk with her home, but she refused, saying she could do it herself. So here she was, walking through Ponyville at night, no one around.

Or so she thought.

She didn't notice the 3 stallions following her as she slowly made her way through the unlit town. And since most all of Ponyville was at Pinkie's party, almost nopony heard her scream as one grabbed her, knife up against her throat, and threw her into an ally, all 3 blocking routes to escape.

Almost nopony.

{-}

_Well shit,_ I thought as I saw what just transpired.

I had heard someone coming, so I hid. As they got closer, I noticed it was one of the ponies from a week ago, Rainbow Dash if I remembered correctly. She seemed slightly intoxicated, but not overly so. She wasn't stumbling, she just seemed….. dazed. I had started to move away when I noticed three figures coming up to her.

Upon seeing them, I decided to stay, curious as to what was going to happen, leading up to the current situation.

_This is TWICE now I'm considering breaking protocol, _I thought._ Well, maybe I won't have to. If they're not going to do what I think they're going to do, I'll just leave it b-._ The words I heard come out of one of the figures, now identified as males, mouths made me dump that thought immediately.

"Now you're going to keep your mouth shut and be a good little filly and do what we want you to or you'll find this nice shiny knife across your throat, and we wouldn't want that, right?"

I instantly knew what that sentence meant, no matter what species or race you were and my mind was set on my next course of action.

Prevent what was sure to happen next.

{-}

Rainbow was scared. Scratch that, she was TERRIFIED. And she knew what happened next. There was always stories about stallions going around forcing unsuspecting mares to….. you know. But those stories were always from the bigger cities like Hoofington and Fillydelphia. She never thought it could happen in Ponyville, never to her.

She closed her eyes and steeled herself for what was to happen next, when somepony called out.

"Hey! That's not how you treat a lady. Walk away, and I might not hospitalize you three."

Rainbow opened her eyes to see who had at least stalled her attackers, and she saw one of the last ponies she expected. The cloaked pony from a week ago.

The attackers then spoke up. "Who the hell are you?"

"Well, I'm about to be the guy that puts all three of you into a hospital if you don't walk away and go home," the cloaked pony said, an extremely serious look on his face to back up his claim.

One of the other attackers spoke up, "Get a load of this guy, let's get him first and then get back to business."

One of the stallions stayed behind to keep her from running off as the other two squared up to the other pony. She was worried to say the least. This was two against one and they had knives. She was about to yell out for him to run, but was completely dumbstruck as to what happened next.

{-}

I slowly prepared myself for what I thought was going to be a short fight. Turns out, I was right.

Two of the three stallions flanked either side of me, obviously confident in their numerical advantage. They certainly didn't expect what happened next.

One charged directly at me, knife at the ready. I quickly sidestepped, grabbed one of his back legs and pulled and twisted, having him fall down on his back. I quickly jumped on him, hitting him in the head, knocking him out. Before the other knew what happened, I had grabbed my knife from its place on my leg, threw it at the other stallion, impaling itself in his leg. As he went to pull it out, I quickly closed the gap and knocked him out, threw his unconscious form against the wall, pulled my knife from his leg and spun to face the third stallion. After a few seconds, he dropped the knife and ran.

The whole event lasted not 15 seconds.

_Good to know I can still effectively fight as a pony,_ I thought as I turned my attention to the gaping Rainbow Dash.

I proceed to ask, "Are you all right?"

{-}

"Are you all right?"

The question barely registered in her head as her mind tried to grasp what just happened. This pony saved her, making it look like no problem and was now talking to her. Then it hit her mind. He's talking to you.

"Are you all right?" he ask more sternly, making sure to grab her attention.

"Um…ye…..yeah…," she stuttered. "Th….Thank you."

"No problem," the stallion said, helping her up. She didn't get a good look at his face last time when they brought him to Ponyville hospital after the events with Nightmare Moon, but she could see his features now. His coat was a dark shade of grey, his mane was pitch black with red highlights, and had piercing yet calming red colored eyes. She couldn't tell the rest of his body as the cloak was covering it.

_He's kinda…. cute,_ Rainbow blushed at the thought. She quietly praised Luna it being too dark for him to notice. She then noticed he was walking off. "Hey! Um… where are you going?" she asked.

He stopped, turned and looked at her, and turned back around and continued walking, answering back, "to sleep."

This confused Rainbow as she knew he didn't live in Ponyville. "Uh, where do you sleep?" she continued to inquire. At this he stopped and looked back. "In the forest."

"But, that's not safe!" she exclaimed. "There is too many dangerous things in there. Come with me. I'll take you to Twilight, one of my friends. I'm sure she'll let you stay in the library, at least for a while," she said, not really going to take no as an answer for her offer.

He stopped and thought a bit. Then proceeded to turn around and answer, "Ok."

Rainbow Dash was ecstatic, but seized the opportunity, "Ok, follow me. But first, what's your name?"

After a short pause and a bit of suspense from Rainbow, he answered, "Call me Star."

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**Felt a bit weird typing the Rainbow blushing and thinking Michael is cute part….. eh, it'll grow on me, anyways,**

**Tada! A new chapter in record time. The fleet is out looking for Michael, but soon the UUA won't be the only ones. The next chapter will involve some backstory to Michael, now going to be known to the ponies as Star. As to why he accepted the offer, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to see Michael's thoughts as he answered the questions. On the note of how I finished this chapter so quickly, just think of it as a brain dump and then some editing. Also, while typing this, I got lazy and didn't want to go back up to the top to change it. There is a definite chance I will be accepting some OC ponies, but also humans as well. I mean c'mon, whose going to pilot the ships? That is still on debate though, so no-one get your hopes up. Well, that is it for now. Until next time. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	6. Memories from Ago

**A/N: Hello there and welcome back to yet another chapter to this collaboration of words I call a story. When I had said I may be accepting OCs, ShiningShadow quickly corrected my thinking. I obviously didn't realize what I meant is that I WILL be accepting OCs, just pm me. I changed the summary accordingly. Now, I can't guarantee that the OC will be used, but I will try to incorporate any I get. Now, onto some review responses and then the story.**

**ShiningShadow1965(2900): Thank you for showing me the errors in my ways of thinking. And thank you again for your OC.**

**RenaTamer: Thank you for finding this interesting and I hope I am able to continue to make it interesting for you.**

**Major Simi: Yes, the protocol is similar to the prime directive in Star Trek. Don't interfere with civilizations or make yourself known unless they've reached a certain point technology wise, or they face a danger outside their control. The second part of the protocol was only enacted after the UIF's formation and falling out of the UUA. To answer your second question, I'm planning a chapter fully dedicated to the task of explaining the UIF and the UUA later in the future. I will say that UIF stands for United Imperial Fleet, and if you haven't got it yet, they're the main antagonist for Michael and the UUA (United Universal Alliance).**

**Wow. Short list. Well, onto the chapter!**

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**Disclaimer: Yeah…. I think by now, anyone reading this should know what I do and do not own. If not, just read the other disclaimers.**

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Ch 5: Memories from ago

_Sleeping in a bed or on a couch sounds like a nice change,_ I thought, answering Rainbow's question with a simple, "Ok."

At this I noticed a grin grow on her face. Apparently she was glad to hear that answer, though I don't think she would have taken no anyway. _Anything is better than the ground or metal, _I continued my thought before Rainbow continued to speak. "OK, follow me." She stopped and asked, "But first, what's your name?"

_Damn, _I thought, _well, protocol's out of question and I'm going to be here a while. For what I've seen, Michael's not a normal name. Crap, think, think, think,….. got it!_

I looked to her to answer, noticing the suspense that seemed to linger around her before I saying, "Call me Star."

The air seemed to lessen in suspense as she learned my name, taking a bit to let it sink in before she continued, "Ok Star, follow me."

As we walked along, I couldn't help but notice Rainbow keep looking back at me and then quickly looking away. _Is she blushing?_ I thought. I decided to push that aside as we came up to the tree that held the library. Apparently a party had been held there not long before, as I noticed a few ponies leaving, some looking my way and start whispering.

I heard a sigh as we entered and someone, whose voice I identified as Twilight's, say, "Party's over. Go home."

"Twilight, it's me, Rainbow." At this, I saw Twilight come out of one of the adjacent rooms while saying, "I thought you were going home?" She walked by, somehow not noticing me as she walked up to Rainbow Dash. I just stood there, waiting for the shock to come.

"I was…" Dash started

And waiting….

"…But I was stopped by 3 stallions on the way." She continued

"Oh, wha-," Twilight started before noticing Dash's face.

And waiting….

"OH! What happened?!" Twilight asked in a very concerned tone, obviously knowing what the underlying message was.

Still waiting….

"A certain mystery pony saved me," she answered, gesturing towards me.

"Oh, wh-" She stopped mid-question as she finally noticed my presence. There she stood just staring until finally exclaimed, "YOU!"

_Good to know awareness is still crap, _I thought, thinking back to a certain cliff from a week ago. I was surprised though when I was quickly tackled to the ground, Twilight holding me down, spouting off questions. "Who are you!? Why did you run a week ago?! Why did you follow us in the forest?!" I was about to answer her questions when thankfully Rainbow Dash cutted in.

"Twilight, get off him," she partly barked. "He's the one who saved me earlier tonight! His name is Star. I brought him here to ask if he could sleep here because he had been sleeping in the Everfree Forest this entire week, if not longer."

I saw Twilight's eyes grow as she absorbed this new information and quickly jumped off and started apologizing, "I'm SO sorry, I didn't know all of this. Um… yeah, he can stay here, if he doesn't mind a small cot." Twilight looked to Rainbow for a response, but instead gestured towards me, were I answered for myself, "I don't mind, and I thank you for your hospitality."

Twilight nodded and then directed me to a door saying, "it's through here and down the stairs." With that, I showed myself down as Twilight turned around back towards Rainbow Dash, no doubt going to talk about tonight's earlier events.

I found my way down the basement and to the cot on the other side of the room, laying myself in it. _After sleeping on the ground for a week, this feels like heaven,_ I thought to myself. After thinking of today's events, I shut my eyes, hoping to get some peaceful sleep.

I was half right.

Not long after drifting to sleep, I found myself reliving a memory I wish would stay buried.

{-}

**UUA First Fleet**

**CSC-002 ****_Icarus II_**

**Location: - Universe, Above Planet Raxus**

**Date: 3 years before present day**

**Mission: Defend Raxus and deter invading UIF fleet**

The super-cruiser shook as its shield took another hit. On the view-screen, space seemed to light up as missiles were shot down by both opposing fleets' CIWS systems. It seemed like all hell was breaking loose and both sides were at a standstill. The tactical displayed showed another story. It looked like a mass confusion of different colored moving lights and words to anyone who wouldn't understand how to read it. To the crew aboard the bridge, it was a sign to work harder. For once in over 350 engagements since the uprising, UUA was beating the UIF back in a battle with overwhelming odds.

Again, the _Icarus II_ shook, but this time, it wasn't getting hit. Back on the tac-display, two of the medium-sized red dots flashed off the display, signaling they were destroyed or were no long a combat threat. On the view-screen, it was confirmed as one was gutted bow to stern by a MAC round and the other's engines were hit by a multitude of missiles, causing its core to go critical, and was soon gone in a flash of light.

"Keep up the pressure!" I ordered fleet-wide. "We've almost got this!" This prospect pleased me immensely as I had seen too many retreats and loses in the ongoing conflict with the UIF ever since their formation and breaking off from the UUA. The only thing I see now that stood between the UUA and complete victory was the flagship coming into view on the screen.

"Admiral, enemy ships are ceasing fire. Sir, flagship changing position. They're exposing they starboard side," one of the bridge-staff reported.

"I can see that," I said while watching the view-screen, growing evermore unsteady as the flagship moved.

"Um… sir, the flagship is hailing us," the communications officer said, confused.

_Why? Why would he hail us. Reighton would never surrender, _I thought, even more confused at this notion.

"Bring it up onscreen," I commanded.

"Audio only sir," the officer said. "Patching it through."

He gave me a nod, signaling the link was established. "What do you want Reighton? Can't you see I'm busy trying to finish this god-forsaken war." I said, my voice dripping with anger towards the person I was fully aware was on the other side. There was a few seconds of silence, until a voice answered back over the audio systems.

"Oh, I'm fully aware what you're TRYING to do, but the only way this war ends is with the destruction of the collaboration of arrogance and lies that is the UUA. I didn't hail you to talk about that though," the voice, quickly identified as Reighton, answered. "No. I ordered my ships to stand down so I can talk to you about the planet below."

_What's he up to,_ I thought, trying to run any possible scenarios through my head. I came up with nothing and decided to continue this discussion to pull some hints as to what he was planning. "Well, you have my attention. What do you want to…. discuss?"

"Oh just some general facts. Do you know how many people live on Raxus? I'll assume you don't. The total number is 20 billion. Another thing, did you know that Raxus' capital city spands an entire continent?" Reighton said.

"What are you getting at?" I said, getting slightly annoyed at his apparent stalling.

"In a moment, just two more things," Reighton said, continuing his one-sided 'discussion'. "One, Raxus' capital city holds over 25% of the world's total population. Two, and pay attention. Do you know how devastating an airborne super-virus can be to a planet's population?" At that, 12 missiles shot out of the flagship's underbelly, heading straight for the planet. "I guess you'll find out." At that the communications were terminated and the missiles hit their target, the capital city below.

"Sir, enemy ships on the move," one of the tactical officers reported. "They're leaving. I'm getting multiple reports on casualties on the planet below. The unknown virus is spreading at a rapid rate."

_DAMNIT, _I thought. _ That fucking bastard._

All eyes on the bridge to face towards me, as one officer spoke up, "Orders, sir?"

The tactical officer from earlier spoke up, "Admiral, they're getting away," while another reported, "Casualty reports are flooding in planet-side , sir."

I was stuck at a cross road with no good option out. One, I engage the UIF and finish the war for good; but then the virus, at this rate, would no doubt have spread too far across the planet to stop. Two, I do the only thing to stop the virus from spreading planet-wide, but in doing so, kill billions of innocent lives and let Reighton escape.

"Sir, orders sir?"

I stood there, almost unable to give the command I gave next, knowing I would never forgive myself. "Prime 4 Firestorm nukes. Tell the cruisers to prime theirs. Get a firing solution on the continent below."

One officer protested, "Sir, there are billions of people on the continent. We'l-"

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW!?" I interrupted violently. I continued in a quieter, but still deadly tone, "I know it'll be killing billions of innocents. It's either that or we let the ENTIRE planet die."

As I stood there staring this man down, the tactical officer reported, "All ships have their nukes ready and have set their firing solutions. Awaiting firing command."

There I stood, giving it one last thought. Then, one word. One word that left a piece of me dead inside.

"Fire"

{-)

Twilight wasn't going to let Star off as to whom he is, but she decided it was better for him to get some sleep. After Rainbow Dash recounted the nights events, her curiosity grew.

_Just who IS he_, she thought. A while after Dash had left, Twilight snuck downstairs to check on Star, and if he was awake, she was going to ask him a few questions. She peeked over to the cot, only to find Star asleep. _Well, I guess it can wait until morning_, she thought. As she turned to leave though, she heard him mumble something. She turned back around and tried to get a better look at him. He was asleep, but it seemed he was having a nightmare. His breaths were short and he seemed to be sweating.

He continued to mumble, but Twilight wasn't able to make anything out. After a few minutes, Twilight was about to wake him up, but was startled back out the door when he shot up in a fright. After he whispered something, Twilight saw him lay back down.

_Questions can definitely wait until morning_, Twilight decided, as she headed to bed.

{-}

I shot up in a cold sweat after seeing the nukes hit the planet again. "Damnit," I whispered under my breath. After slowing down my heart and breaths, I laid back down and tried to get more sleep.

{-}

**UUA First Fleet**

** SFG-0041 ****_Under the Shroud_**

**Location: the void between, nearing destination.**

Peterson was a very patient man. But the trip through the void between was taking longer than expected, and he was starting to lose that patience, until the navigations officer spoke up. "Reaching destination. Exiting void in 2 minutes."

_Finally_, he thought. "Good. Raise the cloak before we exit. I don't want to stumble into a situation." Peterson ordered, which was met with a "Yes, sir"

Again, the officer spoke up, "Cloak raised. Exiting in 3…2….1…..exiting."

The captain stared the view-screen down, hoping to see anything that resembled the _Faith_. As the ship exited the void, he saw something. Something that shot his hopes to pieces.

The UIF flagship _Ominous Justice_.

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** There you go, chapter 5. I can't help but feel I rushed this one. Hopefully you don't feel I rushed it, and if you did, sorry. **

** An ending note. I will be accepting OCs, just pm me. Again, it's not guaranteed they will be used, but I'll try my hardest to incorporate them. Hope to see any readers next chapter. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	7. Close Calls and Unexpected Feelings

**A/N: Hello there readers and critics, and welcome back. On the subject of OCs, I think I myself was not clear enough on what to send me. For human OCs, I need name (full), ethnicity (if not included, I will make them whatever I want), and personality. Any extra info after that would be appreciated, but is not necessary. If certain details are left out, I will either make it up myself or not use them (depending on the situation). For pony OCs, I need name, physical details, what race, and personality. Also, take in mind once you let me use your OC, they will be subject to my dastardly mind (MUAHAHAHA). Seriously though, don't get all heartbroken if they die. You did hand the leash over to me. Finally, I will be starting a deviantart account in which some of the content will deal with this story, such as how the ships look. I'll announce when it's up. Now, for some review responses.**

** DatAss111: Hmm, interesting username. Anyways, thanks for the review. On the subject of giving AJ a big role, I can't promise anything. Please don't hate me!**

** Major Simi: Thank you for your positive review! I aim to please.**

** ShiningShadow1965: I congratulate you for deducing a location. Fortunately for Equestia's sake, it was wrong. And once again, thank you for your ever positive reviews.**

** With that out of the way, ONTO THE CHAPTER!**

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** Disclaimer: Yeah….**

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Ch 6: Close Calls and Unexpected Feelings

**UUA First Fleet**

** SFG-0041 ****_Under the Shroud_**

** Location: Unknown**

**Objective: Locate the ****_Column of Faith_**

"Shit!"

Half the bridge crew, including Cpt. Peterson, exclaimed as the _Shroud_ raced at a collision course. "Hard port! Full reverse!" Cpt. Peterson yelled.

There was no answer back, but the order was obviously received as the cloaked frigate banked and turned to its left. The super-cruiser on the view-screen was quickly growing in size as the frigate hit full reverse in an attempt to avoid ramming it. Everyone on the bridge grew tense as the maneuver left only yards between the frigate and the massive flagship. Any crew near starboard view-ports tensed and braced for an impact that thankfully never came. The _Shroud_ quickly made its way to a safer distance.

Peterson fell back into his command chair in the CIC, visibly relaxing as the cloaked frigate moved away from what could have been death. The reprieve only lasted moments though as the tactical officer shouted, "Sir, they're powering up weapons!"

"No rest for the weary," Peterson said to himself before continuing, "Divert secondary generators to shields, keep weapons at minimum. We don't know if they really know we're here or not and I don't want to give ourselves away." A quick 'yes sir' was all he got before he turned his attention back towards the view-screen. There was a few tense moments as they saw most of the _Ominous Justice_'s many guns come alive and start to align themselves to a position. Peterson's heart felt like it skipped a beat as the guns passed the position were the frigate lay silent now and position themselves towards were the _Shroud_ had exited the void.

The moment the super-cruiser's guns were aligned, numerous weapons ranging from pulse guns, to plasma and kinetic, all fired their deadly payload towards the unoccupied space. This caused mixed feelings and thoughts to race through the captain's thoughts. _Ok, they know we're here, but not where or what_. As he thought this, the super-cruiser's multitude of weapons disengaged from the singular point in space and brought their load to bear down on the space around, sending plasma, projectiles, and lasers alike flying out at random trajectories in a hope that it might hit something solid.

_Damn, think quick_, Peterson thought. "Launch a cloaked probe and make sure they hit it before they hit us," he commanded. "Let's let them think it was just a probe that came through." After a quick 'yes sir', the warning sound went off, signaling the launch of the probe. After 30 seconds of waiting and a couple of close calls, the probe was hit and exploded, its IFF tag disappearing off the tac-display. Peterson was relieved to see the _Ominous Justice_'s guns return to their original positions, power levels decreasing.

_Too close. Now down to business_, he thought. "Passive scan the area, see if you find anything that matches the _Faith__. _Keep it at a low frequency. We've already fooled our friends here once. I have a feeling it won't work again," he ordered.

As the bridge crew followed the order, Peterson stared at the flagship on the view-screen. _Why do I have a feeling that we're not done with you just yet,_ he thought.

{-}

I awoke the next morning to some talking upstairs. I rolled off the bed onto my hoofs and walked up the stairs and to the door Twilight had showed me last night. Not wanting to jump into a possible group of people, or in this case ponies, unaware of what was going on, I stuck my head against the door to eavesdrop on their conversation. Most of the voices I recognized, but there was one or two that I was at a complete loss as to who it was.

"… and he just showed up from nowhere and told those creeps to leave me alone." I recognized the voice belonged to Rainbow Dash, and picking up on the content of the sentence, I figured she was sharing last night's story with the rest of the group. "After they refused, two of them went to attack him while the third stayed behind with a knife on my throat, probably to make sure I didn't leave."

"Oh, dear that's horrible," the almost inaudible voice I identified as Fluttershy said.

Rarity's voice came in, "Yes, that's absolutely dreadful," putting a bit of emphasis and drama on dreadful.

Next came the voice I remember belonging to Applejack, "Well what happened next? You're ok and ah assume he is too, then what else happened?"

"Well," Rainbow continued, "they started to charge him and in no time, he knocked them both out. I mean I BLINKED and one was already out cold! The third one ran off after seeing him beat up his friends."

"Did he tell you anything about himself?" This voice I didn't recognize, but Rainbow's answer identified the speaker. "No Princess. All he said was that his name is Star and he's been living in the Everfree forest for the past week, maybe longer."

After that statement, I heard them gasp. One of them, which I assumed was Pinkie Pie, held hers longer and continued rapid fire saying, "Thatmeanshe'sbeenherethewholetimeandIdid n'tknowaboutitandhaven'tthrownaparty."With that I heard a gasp for air as I think she was trying to regain her breath.

_There's definitely something wrong with her head,_ I concluded before I continued listening.

"Slow down there partner," Applejack said. "Ah think we need to worry a bit less about throwing him a party and more-so on who he is."

"Applejack's right," I heard Twilight finally speak up since I began listening. "Even though he did save Rainbow's life and mine, I don't trust him. I mean, why?"

"Maybe he was just being a gentlecolt," Rarity spoke up.

"I would trust him," Rainbow spoke up, getting some shuffles as I assumed the group turned to look at her. "I…I mean… he saved me last night and he didn't have to. He could have just left me there for those….. monsters. He risked himself to save me." She paused and added off to the side in a whisper, "He's kinda cute, too." That last comment was almost inaudible. Almost.

_Did she just call me CUTE?!,_ I thought as I found myself blushing furiously as I thought about it. _THE FUCK! STOP BLUSHING! She's a PONY for Christ's sake. Sure, some crew members have fallen in love out of species, but those were humanoids. This is wrong on SO MANY LEVELS! DAMNIT! I shouldn't have broken protocol. Ahhhgg, but I couldn't just leave her to have that happen. DAMNIT!_

I managed to pull myself back together as I heard Twilight, "What was that? Are you alright Rainbow? You're getting kind of red…"

"I'm fine!" I heard Rainbow frantically try to recover herself.

I heard the Princess clear her throat to quiet the room and heard her say, "I think our guest would like to join."

_Damn. _There was some shuffling and I assumed they were all facing the door I was behind as I could practically feel their stares. _Well, I got myself into this,_ I mentally sighed as I proceeded to open the door, steeling myself in preparation for the questions I knew were to come.

{-}

**UUA First Fleet**

** SFG-0041 ****_Under the Shroud_**

** Location: Unknown**

**Objective: Find new leads to the location of the ****_Column of Faith_**

"Sir, it's a perfectly viable plan."

Peterson was in the briefing room along with other lead crew members on the ship. They were there thinking of plans or ideas as to just where the _Faith_ may be. He had just listened to one of the tactical commanders give him this plan, and frankly, he thought it was stupid and wasn't afraid of voicing his opinion.

"Yes I know, but given that it's a stupid ass plan and a possible waste of lives, I've elected to ignore it," Peterson commented bluntly.

Another officer continued, "I think it's one of the only REAL options we have. The scans came up negative and a small, highly trained squad could pull this off."

Peterson again thought on this. He was right, and he knew just the team for the job. "Fine," he said. Peterson reached over to the com button and announced ship-wide, "Sargent Major Burt Rodriguez, report to the briefing room immediately."

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**There we have it, Ch. 6. Nothing much to say down here, so I'm just going to sign out. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	8. Simply, Unexpectedly Right

**A/N: Welcome back. Man, I've been noticing my story get some attention lately. Over 220 visitors is big for me. Anyways, the deviantart account is up and I've posted the UUA ships so far and a picture of pony-Michael, or Star if you will. Search up Arwingmaster1 on deviantart and that should do it. Secondly, I've been thinking about updating the story at a bit slower pace. I just think that when I upload every day or every other day, the chapters seem rushed and shorter than I feel they should be. I'm not meaning like 2 week waits or anything like that, maybe 3 days or at most a week. This wait helps with suspense and keeping my head from hurting. Now that that's out of the way, the review responses!**

**DatAss111: You're welcome for the new chapter. As I have said before, I aim to please. I intend to continue updating until my fingers fall off, the internet crashes forever, or I finish the story. Whichever comes first.**

**Major Simi: Thank you. I'm kinda lost about what gips is, though I hope I'm right in assuming you meant good.**

**Apollyon602: Thank you for the review and your OC.**

**ShiningShadow1965: I think I'm going just dedicate an entire chapter to saying thank you for all your positive reviews. Jokes aside, thank you again for yet another uplifting review.**

**Guest: I hope I'm right in assuming both guest reviews are from the same person. If not, oh well. Yes, they have. Also, I hope you do like Rainbow Dash blushing, because it's going to happen a lot more.**

**Well, I think I've stolen enough of your time, so ONTO THE CHAPTER!**

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**Disclaimer: Eh….**

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Ch 7:Simply, Unexpectedly Right

Princess Celestia watched the mystery pony walk from out behind the door after she had announced his presence. She hadn't really got a good look at this newcomer when they had him brought to Ponyville's hospital about a week ago. What she saw physically didn't surprise her. A young stallion, black mane with red highlights. Nothing unusual. She was surprised by the way he carried himself and the look in his eyes. He walked with a sort of authority and had an air of control around him. His eyes really interested Celestia. Piercing calm red eyes, a contradiction of itself, and despite looking so young, they told he had seen more than his appearance shows. _Interesting_, she thought.

{-}

_Damn, they just love to stare,_ I thought as I walked over to the group. Looking over the group, I saw that everyone except Rainbow, who was keeping her face hidden, was looking me over. My eyes scanned over the group until they met with a pair that was above mine, belonging to a white pony with both a horn and wings with a crown on her head._ Must be Princess Celestia,_ I assumed. I dismissed this as I walked past the group, trying to avoid the game of 20 questions that I knew was coming. I was almost to the door when the princess spoke up.

"Why don't you come and join us?" she asked.

_Damnit._ I turned to face the group again. They were all looking at me, even Rainbow looked up. "Well," Celestia continued, gesturing towards a spot next to Rainbow. It was more of an order and less of a suggestion. "Depends," I answered.

This got an intriguing look from the princess. "Depends on what?"

"Whether you'll take no as an answer," I replied. Not surprisingly, I found I was sitting next to an extremely red Rainbow Dash not a few moments later. _I'll take that as a no._

"I hope you don't mind if we ask you a few questions," the princess continued.

_Great, an interrogation._ "Doesn't look like I have a choice in the matter," I whispered off to the side.

Rainbow and Rarity seemed to have heard me. Rainbow giggled cutely- _NO!,_ and Rarity asked, "What was that?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly, slightly blushing, "I mean no, I don't mind." _Damnit, get your head together._

I received a few strange looks from the room, with the exception of Rainbow who was looking down in the other direction before the princess continued. "Ok, well, I guess we'll start with who are you."

"Star."

"Just Star?" Celestia inquired further.

"Yes," I replied, hoping it was sufficient enough of a name. I mentally relaxed when she gave a slight look of approval and continued her questions.

"Where are you from?"

_Crap, _I thought. _Hopefully the usual works._ "I'm not really from one specific place. I do a lot of traveling." _Not the whole truth, but not a lie._

"Ok, more specific, like, where were you born?" She asked.

_Shit_._ Think, think…._ I frantically thought as I raked together a good answer. "I…. don't remember."

"What do you mean you don't remember?" This time it was Twilight asking the question.

_Oh, just ask another question._ "I don't remember much from when I was young. It's mostly blank." _Plain out lie._

This gained me a look of concern from the group. Especially from Rainbow Dash, who asked, "Why can't you remember?"

"Amnesia or something. Can we just move on?" I replied. I saw the princess nod and start another question, but Twilight butted in, "I can help you remember. I read of a spell just a few days ago that helps with amnesia or sudden memo-"

"No," I quickly cut her off, startling some of the group. I started to dig myself out of the hole I trapped myself into, "I mean, thank you for the offer, but I want them to come back on their own or to remember them myself." This was enough to satisfy Twilight on the subject and thankfully everyone else.

The princess continued her inquiry, "Why do you wear a cloak?"

I decided to out-right dodge the question, "I have my reasons."

Celestia didn't seemed too satisfied with the answer I gave her. "And what would those reasons be?"

I simply put it, "Personal reasons. I'm allowed my secrets."

The princess gave me a glare before continuing, a bit more firm in her voice. "Lastly, why did you put yourself at risk to help Twilight and save Rainbow Dash?"

"I…" I started before thinking _Why did I?_. Celestia apparently didn't like the slight wait. "Why?" She asked almost threateningly and stared me down._ What do I tell her?,_ I thought, not liking the gaze I was getting.

"Why?!" She practically shouted, startling everyone but me. The other's mouths agape as they saw their princess ask in such a threatening way towards me.

That did it. I stood up and returned her gaze tenfold, making her sit back down. "Because I've seen enough death in my life," I started low and in an icy tone. " to make any normal... pony go insane. I've seen enough innocent lives blink out of existence for no reason at all. So Sorry IF I JUST WANT TO KEEP THAT FROM HAPPENING AT ANY INSTANCE I CAN!" By the time I was finished, I was shouting right in the princess' face. I quickly pushed my way to the door and looked back on the group. All of them, especially the princess, had a look of astonishment on their face. "We're done here," I said as I walked out the door, slamming it behind me.

{-}

Celestia was dazed. This pony, Star, had stared her down with enough force to scare her and backed it up with a cold, deadly voice that evolved into an anger filled shout right in front of her face. Literally. The door slamming shut snapped her out of her daze as a few books fell to the floor. She felt ashamed, having pushed so hard for the information. She was scared too. Scared about how little she knew of this new pony. How he had just scared her by staring her down. She needed time to think. The others just sat there as she got up and walked to the chariot outside. Star nowhere in sight, she told the pegasi pulling to take her back to Canterlot.

{-}

Rainbow was one of the last of her friends to snap out of their astonishment. She had only caught brief bits of the conversation that was happening at the moment, like 'Where did the princess go?', 'We need to bring Star back and ask him more questions', 'Why did the princess yell at him', or 'Why did he yell at the princess?'. Rainbow only cared about two things, where is he and how does he feel. When the princess started to yell at Star, Rainbow wanted to stand up the Princess Celestia and stop her. She realized she had feelings for Star. As she ran out the door and quickly took to the sky, she could barely make out her friends calling out to her as she flew in the only direction she thought Star would be going.

{-}

_Well, I blew it,_ I thought to myself as I walked into the forest. _Why do I feel that was only half true, though? I don't feel for any of these ponies, do I?_ I was abruptly stopped when I heard my 'name' called out from behind me.

"Star!"

I turned to see the speaker, only to be tackled by a cyan colored blur. After a bit of rolling, I found a certain rainbow maned Pegasus _lying_ on top of me, fac… eh muzzle only inches away from mine. She stared down at me, slightly blushed. She looked- _NO! She's a pony! It wouldn't work out. It's WRONG….. or is it. NO! Snap out of it!_, I thought, mentally battling with myself. After a bit she quickly rolled off, blushing furiously. I quickly got to my feet, blushing, and turned the other way, still mentally battling with my feelings. _I can't feel this way. She's a pony, and she thinks I am too. I know it's wrong, but I feel differently. Damnit!_ My mental war was cut off as she spoke up. "I'm sorry. I…I..di.. didn't mean t…to tackle you o...or land on you l….li…like t…that," Rainbow stuttered out an apology, apparently embarrassed by our previous position. Hell, I was embarrassed, more about the feelings I was having, though.

"I…it's o..ok," I managed to reply, still looking at the ground the opposite direction. There was a moment of silence before she continued speaking. "I just came to s..see how you were doing. I didn't think it w..was right of the princess to yell at you."

I stood back up, mentally recollecting myself before replying, "I'm fine." I started to walk further into the forest, but was stopped by Rainbow yet again. "Where are you going?" Her voice steadying out.

I stopped and said, "My home for the past week" before continuing.

Yet again, I was stopped when Rainbow landed in front of me. "Can, I come?"

My answer came quick. "No."

She stood there for a bit before continuing, "You don't have to live out here you know. You can still stay at the library with Twilight. I'm sure I can get her to stop asking questions."

Knowing I wouldn't hear the end of it, and my conflicting emotions making me not want to see her sad, I thought a bit before answering, "Ok, but," she lightened up a bit before I continued, "but wait here while I go get some stuff."

She quickly nodded and sat down, which I found, slightly less regrettably, cute._ Damnit, _I cursed myself for the thought. I continued my walk into the forest. A good 15 minutes later, I arrived at the pelican crash. Still unsure if anyone was looking, I wasn't going to risk anyone see me change. So I stayed a pony while I placed all the equipment back into the pelican. Before closing it up, I grabbed an ear bud communicator and while situating it in my ear, tested it out. "Fi, do you copy?"

After a short pause, a familiar voice came out the ear bud. "Yes, I read you. What do I owe this unexpected call?"

I smiled, "Just testing out a communicator. I've received living arrangements in town. I didn't want to be too far away if I needed to contact you."

"Ah, how thoughtful," Fi said playfully. "Well, I do have some updates for you. Engines are back online a full capacity. Main generator is holding at 94%. All weapons and defense systems are back online excluding the MAC. There are still some fused coils and blockage to work out and the power flow is uneven. Everything else hasn't changed."

"Good to hear," I replied, "now tha-"

Fi interrupted, "Sir, the _Faith_'s scanners are picking up a signature near you. It matches one of the species of ponies." Then there was a scream.

_Damnit, I told her to stay put._ "Keep an eye on that signature, I'm going radio silent."

"Copy that sir, I'll keep you updated if it changes," then Fi went silent.

I ran towards the screaming to find something that didn't surprise me. Rainbow had tried to follow me through the forest. Then I noticed what she was screaming at. Three wolves that looked to be made of wood were circling around her._ Must be the timberwolves I've been hearing in some ponies conversations. And what's with her constant need of being saved?_ Not giving them a chance to hurt Rainbow, I jumped out on top of one, shoving its face into the ground. From there, I twisted its neck, effectively killing it from the sound of wood snapping. _Damn, they must be made completely out of wood_._ Not blood or anything._ The other two quickly noticed me and both charged at the same time. The first got ahead of the second, bad move on its part as I pulled out my combat knife and quickly situated and pulled it across its throat, easily cutting through the twigs that composed it.

I didn't expect the second one and it rammed into me, knocking the knife out of my hand. As I struggled with it on top of me, it threw me towards Dash, but not before I broke its leg. As it limped away, I found myself in yet another awkward position.

{-}

This was twice now. Twice he risked his life to save her. And twice they've both landed in this position. Rainbow was embarrassed, yes. Shying away, yes. But as she looked into the eyes of the blushed face that stared down at her, she did the only thing she could do. No, WANTED to do.

{-}

I was frozen wide eyed and completely astonished at what was happening. Rainbow Dash was KISSING me. Kissing, as in k-i-s-s-i-n-g, lip lock, face touching, affectionate KISSING. A million alarms went off in my head, telling me to pull away, to stop it now. But something held me there, one singular feeling saying it was right. After a few seconds that felt like a century, she pulled away and scrambled to her feet, blushing furiously. I just stood there wide-eyed mouth agape, my mind still only slightly registering what just happened. After a few minutes she spoke up extremely softly and to the side, "I think we should head back." I just simply nodded and followed her out. Then it hit my mind again.

I was kissed, by a pony, and liked it.

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**Well, that was a bit awkward to write. I'd like to mention beforehand that I am in no way Michael. I don't NOT relate myself to my OC. He is just that, an OC. With that out-of-the-way and hopefully a weirdo bullet dodged, I would like to apologize for the lack of OCs on ships in this chapter. I was planning on including them, but when I started, I didn't expect this character development and stuff to go this far. So, I promise the first entire half of the next chapter to complete badassery aboard ships. Until next time, Arwingmaster1, out.**


	9. All Well Laid Plans

**A/N: Welcome back! Just a few things. I uploaded another drawing on deviantart. A scene from chapter 7 and I think you all know which one it is. Also, until I change it in the summary or say it here, I am still accepting OCs. The details for what I need is on chapter 6 (chapter 7 if you're going by fanfiction's list). With that out of the way, onto the review responses.**

**Major Simi: Ah, thank you for clearing that up. Also, thank you for your review. As for wolf #2 and 3, wolf 2 was killed and wolf 3 got away with a broken leg. As for your newest comment, I said I was going to slow down on posting chapters. Read chapter 7's A/N for the details.**

**Apollyon602: Thank you. Great to know it surprised some. I actually came up with that part off the top of my head. It was just some boring self-pity crap beforehand, then I thought 'You know what, f**k it. I'm gonna make him yell at her'. I mean, she was kind of being nosy and, dare I say it, a b***h.**

**ShiningShadow1965: Thank you yet again. Damn right he did. As for Twilight's questions… eh, you'll find out.**

**Skullcrusher206: Haven't heard from you in a while. Thanks for all 3 positive reviews. I'm not one for romance either, but something in the back of my head said 'do it, DO IT!' so, yeah.**

**DatAss111: Good summary, and thank you. I intend to keep my fingers on. I've got my tape, super-glue, and staples all at the ready. Lol.**

**Shark Spartan: Eh, not so much a halo crossover as having small amounts of halo in it. I just love the design of their ships. Also, thank you for the positive reviews.**

**Everyone: I've sat here sometimes and thought to myself 'Do I REALLY want to keep doing this?'. After reading reviews and some pushing from myself, I answer that with a firm yes. I'd like to thank everyone for the positive and constructive reviews.**

**Well, need I say it? No, but I'll say it anyway. ONTO THE CHAPTER!**

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**Disclaimer: Bleh…. That word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the taste of copyrights.**

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Ch 8: All Well Laid Plans…

**UUA First Fleet**

** SFG-0041 ****_Under the Shroud_**

** Location: Central mainframe of the UIF flagship ****_Ominous Justice_**

** Mission: Obtain information as to the location of the ****_Faith_**** and wipe systems of information.**

** Secondary Objective: Shut down main weapon systems**

**Mission status: Underway. Location compromised. Ship under fire.**

The _Shroud_ shook violently, most of the bridge crew grasping something to keep their balance. 10 minutes into the operation, and the flagship was lit up like a Christmas tree with all the radio chatter. Not long after that, the guns and missile tubes were sending projectiles into the abyss of space trying to hit the cloaked frigate. A few of them got lucky. Now the frigate, cloak slowly failing, was desperately avoiding the shots as they waited for the infiltration team on the flagship.

Peterson grabbed a hold of one of the rails as the frigate shook again. "Sir, shields at 65%," one of the crew announced, "cloak failing."

_Shit, _Peterson thought as the ship shook again. "Get all guns shooting down those missiles. I don't care if they're CIWS or not, if it's not shooting it had better be fucking broken!"

He didn't really wait for the 'yes sir' that followed before he continued, "Contact the infiltration team. I want to know why the hell their weapons are still shooting at us!" The frigate shook again.

"Another missile impact sir. Sheilds at 50%," the same officer from before announced.

"Well then do something about it! Re-route power from secondary generators to the engines and shields!" Peterson ordered, half annoyed at this unlucky officer who had been giving him nothing but bad news this entire time.

"Contact established, opening channel," one of the communications officers announced.

_Finally_, Peterson thought. A voice came through the comms, "Welcome to Burts' Infiltration, how can-"

"Sergeant Major, what the HELL is taking so long!" Peterson interrupted as the frigate shook, this time less violently.

{-}

Sergeant Burt Rodriguez had loved this plan from the beginning. Small infiltration team, escorting a next to useless combat-wise techy, one way in and out, low chance of survival. A textbook suicide mission, just his style. So here he was with one other from his 12 man squad and a techy hacking into the flagship's mainframe all the while getting shot at from the supercruiser's security team. It brought joy to his heart. Although he loved the plan, he wasn't too keen on dying today. He made sure the techy knew this.

"How much longer McGeek?" Burt asked, chuckling slightly at his nickname for the techy as bullets ripped through the hallway just outside the open doorway, some bouncing off the walls.

"My name is CHARLES and I'm breaking past their last firewall now. This would have been much quicker if we had stopped by HIGHCOM and picked up an AI. Hell, a VI would have done," Charles, the _Under the Shroud_'s resident tech genius, said as he was quickly typing away on the laptop he had hooked up the ship's mainframe.

"Stop complaining," Victor, 2nd in command of the Dragon Tears squad, spoke up.

"Yeah, c'mon McGeek you're ruining the wonderful atmosphere," Burt said with a smile as he shot more bursts down the hallway, hitting some of the security.

"THIS is WONDERFUL?!" Charles stopped typing and turned around, "We're getting shot at by half the ship's crew, our only escape root blocked, and you're SMILING?! Are you CRAZY?!"

Burt paused for a moment before throwing a grenade down the hall. "Yeah," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone as the grenade went off, downing a few more enemies.

"Just think it this way," Victor butted in, "the sooner you break this thing and get the info, the sooner we can get your sorry ass back in your little computer room on the _Shroud_."

Charles turned back around, shook his head, and continued his typing.

Burt was about to try to lighten the mood again, but was interrupted by is communicator. "Ten bucks it's the captain, Vic," he said.

"I know better than to make a bet with you," Victor answered before unloading the assault rifle's clip down the hallway.

"Your choice," he said before connecting the link, "Welcome to Burt's Infiltration, how can-"

"Sargent Major, what the HELL is taking so long!" Peterson yelled through the comm.

Burt shook his head to clear out the ringing going on in it after having the captain yell in it. "Well sir, if you haven't noticed, they figured out we were here. No worries we have the situation completely under control," he said before emptying one of his .50 cal magnums down the hallway. "See, under control."

"Sergeant," Peterson said calmly over the comm.

"Yes sir?" Burt answered enthusiastically.

"Give me a DAMN STATUS REPORT!"

This time, Burt had pulled it out of his ear beforehand, saving it for the screeching mess that was coming out the small speaker. "Yes sir. McGeek over here is almost into the syst-"

"I'm in," Charles interrupted.

"Scratch that sir, he's in and downloading the MV drive's logs," Burt corrected.

"Good, now get him working on taking down the weapon systems. If we keep this up, there won't be a ship to get back to," Peterson ordered.

"Yes sir, Burt out," he said turning to Charles, "You heard him tech monkey. Bring down their shooty, fiery things."

"It's not that simple, they keep blocking me out of most of the system. It's a miracle I'm still in their MV drive's logs," Charles stated.

"So, you can't do it?" Victor inquired.

"No, but there is something else I can do," Charles continued, "but the download needs to finish first."

"And how much time will that take McGeek?" Burt asked, emptying his other .50 cal magnum. "I'm out."

"Now. Download is complete. Now I need, what, 5 minutes," Charles said.

"For what, exactly?" Victor said, sealing the door shut. "I'm out of ammo."

"To do a complete shutdown of the ship. That'll power down their weapons," Charles answered, typing furiously.

"Well, you have 3 until they override this door," Burt said, then, turning to Victor, continued "Reminds me of that boarding mission above Trafalgar III."

"You and I remember that mission VERY differently," Victor said. Then, a bang on the door.

"Shit, well, make that 1. Wish I hadn't left my katana on the _Shroud_," Burt said getting to one side of the door. "Get ready."

"Wait a moment," Charles said, still typing. "and… there."

At that moment the lights cut off and the banging stopped.

"Way to go McGeek," Burt said, nodding in approval and giving Charles a firm pat on the back.

"Don't go congratulating anyone yet," Victor cut in, "We still need to get off this ship and our only escape-root is sealed shut." As he finished, Burt's comm came alive again.

"Sergeant, tell the techy I don't know what the hell he did, but I'm damn happy he did it," Peterson spoke over the comm.

"Will do sir. We do have a minor problem though," Burt said. "When McGeek here shut down their systems, it locked to door controls to this room, sealing us in. On the other side is about half the ship's crew waiting to fill us with lots of tiny holes when they pry it open. We need a new way out."

"I think I can help with that," Peterson replied. "Steer clear of the starboard side of the room."

Victor keyed in, "Why, sir?"

"You'll see. Don't want the techy freaking out. Oh and, mind the hole," Peterson said as he cut communications.

"What did he mean by 'mind the hole'?" Charles asked.

Burt could only smile as he said, "See? Just like Trafalgar III."

Vic shook his head, "Get you oxygen mask on. You're about to find out."

{-}

Peterson stared at the now disabled flagship, slightly amused at what he was about to do. _Just like surgery,_ he thought cheerily. "Prime the forward particle cannon. Get me a firing solution on the starboard side, straight towards the infil team. Pelican one-six-niner, do you copy?"

"One-six-niner, copy. Gunner here. I'm in position waiting for pickup."

"Good. Fire when ready. Low yield. I want to cut a hole, not vaporize the team," Peterson ordered as he saw the light of the frigate's medium sized particle cannon begin its work on the flagship's unprotected hull.

{-}

"Just give me a bit…" Charles said, fiddling with one of the ports on the mainframe computer.

"We'll be out of here in just a bit," Vic said, trying to pry Charles from the computer.

"So, what are you doing," Burt said, not minding the fact he wasn't helping Victor.

"I'm linking a processing data crystal with a highly encrypted sleeper software to the-" Charles started, but was interrupted by Burt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down and try small words."

"I'm hooking the doodad to the thingamajig so that when the ship wakes up, its computers catch a cold," Charles said, slightly annoyed.

"Now that I understood," Burt said, walking over to the other side of the room while waiting, looking at the computer.

"Why would you need to plant a virus? We already have what we need," Victor inquired.

"Because," Charles started, placing the cover panel back on the wall, "we have to format the logs so they can't use it to find our missing ship. I didn't have the time to before because they were breaking into the room. This will do it for me long after we are gone."

"Yeah, cool and all. But what is this light for over here?" Burt called out, gesturing them to come.

Besides the emergency lights in the room, there was one light on the wall blinking on and off. Charles took a good short look at this and turned towards the others. "Um… we need to leave now. That's a distress beacon, running off of its own power source. I don't think we want to be here much longer."

"Well, shit." Burt said, activating his comm. "Sir, we have a problem. How much longer until we have our escape root?"

"We're cutting through the last room now. Why?" Peterson said on the other side of the line.

"You're about to get some unwanted company out there. They have a distress beacon running on its own power. I don't want to be here when whoever is getting it gets here. And, what do you mean cutting?" Charles butted in.

"We're ready to leave sir," Burt said, both him and the captain ignoring Charles question.

"Cutting the last wall. Let the decompression carry you out. We have a pelican waiting for you on the outside," Peterson said.

"Copy that," Burt cut the link. "Ok get ready."

"Ready for wh-"

Charles never got to finish the question as a hole was cut into one of the walls. The air decompressing shot all three out, Burt acting as a plow for what small material was in the way, while Victor held on to a curse-spouting Charles.

{-}

Peterson sat and watched the three float into the pelican waiting for them, smiling as he heard Charles in the background of the radio of the pelican. "Packages are aboard, sir," Gunner started. "You son of a bitches. What the FUCK was that!? I'm gonna kill every last one of you fucking DUMBASSES!" "Hey, shut up back there or I'll shut you up myself! As I was saying. Packages aboard, ready to set this baby down."

"Negative, we're all set to leave. Fly her as close to the _Shroud_ as you can and get under our shields," Peterson ordered.

"Copy that," Gunner replied. In the background, Peterson heard Charles say something before getting cut off. "Wait, we're NOT docking!? What the hell are-"

Peterson smiled before ordering, "Fire up the MV drive. Take us home. We'll sort through the data there" He watched as the order was silently carried out as a MV portal appeared in front of the ship. As the _Shroud_ and accompanying pelican made their way through and the portal closed, a fleet of ships came from their own, occupying the empty space on the other side of the flagship.

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**There we go, chapter 8. I don't really have anything to say down here. It's all up in the top A/N. So, hope to see anyone reading next chapter. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	10. Coming to Terms

**A/N: Welcome back! Took a few days off of this, mainly to spend time finishing the campaign of Star Wars: Empire at War on hard difficulty. And when I say hard, it was HARD. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the computer was cheating the whole time. The rest of the time was spent playing some Assassin's Creed 3. Killed some guys, killed some boats, killed some animals, punched a dude in the face, and killed some more guys. It's a very diverse game. After a while, I began to think to myself, 'Wait, wasn't there something I was previously engaged in? Something involving words… Nah.' Well, here we go. Me, getting back to work. I'm also putting all OC submissions on hold. The last chapter ushered in quite a few OCs. Have to sift through some. Well, onto the review responses.**

**Apollyon62: Thanks! I thought those were some of the more fun parts to write. I'm glad you like it!**

**Skullcrusher206: Yep, he made it. Put him with Shiningshadow1965's OC to get two birds with one stone. I'll call them… the DYNAMIC DUO! Lol. Now, what is the meaning of the seventh period? Shame on thee who isn't paying attention in school. Jokes aside, thank you for a positive review.**

**Biggmomma46: Thanks! And extra points for using cudos. That's a fun word so say. Cudos. Cudos. Cudos. Wow, it's fun to type, too! Cudos. Cudos. Cudos. Cudos. Cudos. Cudos.**

**DatAss111: Now come on. I can't have cool, multi-colored awesome ponies in EVERY chapter. I believe in too much of a good thing. Also, thanks for the complements on the combat scene!**

**ShiningShadow1965: Thanks! I'm glad I got him right.**

**CoughDrop: Thanks! Wow, I'm getting pretty repetitive with these. Ok, ¡gracias!, merci!. Eh… I'm gonna stop with that. I fear I might piss someone off.**

**Major Simi: Thank you yet again for another positive review!**

**ONTO THE CHAPTER!**

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**Disclaimer: IN SPANISH! Ve a leer las renuncias de otros.**

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Ch 9: *Reader's Choice*

The trip back to the library was mostly silent, mostly due to Rainbow's embarrassment and my shock. I was still furiously going over what had happened not too long ago, a mental battle raging inside my head. _It's wrong. You can't feel this way. You don't… She obviously has feeling for me. Damnit! You haven't known her long. I… I can't feel this way, towards a PONY. It's WRONG! But, why do I FEEL otherwise? Aaggghhh._

Rainbow must have noticed my mental distress, and to break the silence asked, "Everything all right?", still not looking directly at me.

I waited for a moment as the question finally registered in my mind. "Uh…. Yeah. Yeah, I'm… I'm fine."

Silence fell again, and it continued as we finally came up to the library. All I wanted at this moment was some time alone. Time to sort all this out, without distractions. As we walked up to the door, there was a sign that read closed, and I could hear some talking on the other side. _Apparently only Rainbow came after me, _I thought. Rainbow Dash knocked on the door, which was answered almost instantly with, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Twilight," Rainbow Dash answered back.

The door swung open, revealing Twilight with the other four behind her. "Where did you go? We were about to come fi-", Twilight didn't finish as her gaze fell onto me. "YOU!"

_Well, shit, _I thought as I turned to run. There was a flash from behind me, and I soon figured out as Twilight appeared in front of me making me come to a quick halt. _Damn,_ I mentally cursed as I made a quick about face and started in the other direction. I didn't get far as a certain orange pony tackled me. I quickly pushed Applejack off and stood back up. One side, I had Twilight, ready to zap me with whatever spell she had ready. On the other I had Applejack, ready to charge.

"I don't wa-," I started, but was cut off as Applejack charged me again. I quickly dodged her and, as she ran by, grabbed her and redirected her forward momentum. Right at Twilight. She rammed into her and both ended up on the ground.

"Like I was saying," I once again started, walking over to the two mares, "I said I-". I was cut of yet again as another pony in my peripheral, rush me. _Well shit,_ I thought. Jumping to the side, I tried to dodge, but was too late as the new comer tackled me. As I picked myself up, I found I was surrounded by the two mares and got a good look at the pony who tackled me. An armored pegasus, but instead of feathered wings, they looked leathery and bat-like. His coat was a hue of blue that was borderline black, roughly my height with a dark blue mane and tail. _Must be military, royal guard, or something_, I thought to myself as I readied for another bout. I had no plans on hurting the girls, or the new guy, but if he wanted a fight, he'll get it.

First to charge was Applejack, who I yet again redirected towards Twilight, both ending on the ground again. _Now to deal with him_, I thought, turning towards the now charging stallion. He jumped, spreading his wings to gain some air to pounce. I quickly side-stepped and tackled him as he landed on the ground. Quickly, as he tried to push me off, I shoved him against the ground again and put my now unsheathed knife against his neck. His stern face quickly turned to one of shock, as I assume he hadn't expected this to happen.

{-}

Silent Wind was shocked to say the least.

He was originally stationed in Ponyville to watch over Twilight as she over-saw the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and to keep an eye out for Nightmare Moon's return. After that, he was ordered to stay in Ponyville to watch over the Elements of Harmony in secret. That lasted about a week, until this morning, the Princess had visited on account of the mystery pony showing up. Before she left, she left him a letter containing orders to keep any eye on this mystery pony now identified as Star.

He had lost him going into the Everfree forest and had only just found him as he was in a 'fight' of sorts with two of the Elements. His first instinct was to attack and keep him from harming the Elements. So, he did. Silent had soon found he had underestimated this Star, mentally cursing himself for making a rookie mistake as he looked up Star's eyes.

{-}

I looked down at the stallion, knife pressed to his throat, drawing some blood. He had attacked me twice, and I was about to return the favor. Luckily him, Rainbow yelled out.

"STOP!"

I held the position, still thinking of going through with it. The pony's expression had turned to one of suspense, waiting for me to finish it, or to get up.

"Stop, please…"

I let out the breath of air I had unconsciously been holding and removed the knife from the stallion's neck. He visibly relaxed as I slowly pulled away and sheathed my knife. I turned to question Twilight as to why she attacked me, but Rainbow Dash beat me to it.

"Why did you attack him!?" she asked in a not so quiet manner.

"He yelled and threatened the Princess," Twilight said firmly, "and we wanted answers to questions without him running away." She seemed to get less confident as she went along.

Rainbow was about to answer back, but I butted in, "And attacking me is the best way to get answers? Have you ever thought of just asking if I mind?"

"B..but-" Twilight began.

"But WHAT? If I say no? Then take it and move on," I cut in harshly, Twilight flinching at the reprimand. "And you," I continued, facing towards the stallion who was now getting back up, "Who the HELL are you and why the HELL did you attack me!?"

The pony in question dusted himself off and replied," My name is Silent Wind. Trained in the equestrian military for most of my life and member of the Royal Guard. My orders are to watch over the Elements of Harmony and to keep an eye out for and on a pegasus named Star. As to why I attacked you, I saw you attacking two of the elements, so I decided to subdue you."

_And look how great that turned out for you,_ I thought as I looked at the group gathering around us. By now, there was a large group around who had seen or heard the fight and were now watching and listening in to the conversation. "I think we should continue this inside," I suggested.

Silent looked around before replying with a short, "Agreed".

The group that had gathered moaned and began to disperse as the Elements, Silent, and I headed into the library.

{-}

**UUA Home Fleet**

**UUA-001 ****_Light of Hope_**

**HIGHCOM de-briefing room**

**Location: - Universe, Deep Space**

"The council is fully aware of what information you obtained from the _Justice_," one of the men sitting in front of Peterson said. There were a total of three, uniformed, highly decorated individuals in front of Peterson. Each one a member of the UUA Council, which headed UUA HIGHCOM and governed the decisions of the UUA, stationed aboard the titanic dreadnaught and home ship of the UUA, the _Light of Hope_.

"But," the man continued, "we also understand the risk that you undertook to obtain this information and the reason behind it. We don't doubt your abilities as an officer, Captain, but we cannot ignore the blatant disregard for life or the safety of a UUA vessel, just for you to go chasing after a MIA officer and ship."

"We all are sorry to hear the loss of one of our best strategists, founder, and most effective leaders," another spoke in, "but we can't risk ships or crew just for information that MIGHT hold a way to finding him IF he's still alive. All ships we have are needed for the protection of systems still allied with us."

"With all due respect to the council, I recognize this," Peterson stated. "That is why we acted alone."

"Now onto the matter of the search party. We've decided that it would be too costly for the UUA to dedicate too many ships just to search for a possibly destroyed frigate and dead admiral. Your request has been denied, and you and the _Shroud_ will be transferred to the defense fleet over B-105 to defend our mining facilities."

Peterson was getting pretty annoyed at the Council now. Ever since the _Shroud_ had gotten back in touch with HIGHCOM and they were briefed on what happened with the _Ominous Justice_, Peterson had caught nothing but grief. From threats of court martial to demotion, he swore he heard it all. The Council's quick decision on trying to find the Admiral pissed him off more.

"Council, I think we can all agree that a simple stealth frigate won't be worth much when clumped together with a defense fleet," Peterson began, "That was why I'm asking that I take the _Shroud_ and her alone with a volunteer crew on a search and rescue, not a fleet. This would keep the UUA from any major losses and keep any experienced crew that doesn't want to be there available for tasking."

After a few minutes of talking amongst themselves, Peterson was starting to get impatient as he waited for their reply. _Damn bureaucrats,_ he thought to himself. _They're what makes this job unbearable. Indecisive bastards. Why did the Admiral even make these positions?_ Before he could question Michael's decisions on the structure of the UUA anymore the lead council member spoke up.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Captain? Get a crew together and go find the _Faith_," he said.

"Not so simple, sir. We need to decrypt and examine the MV-"Peterson started, but was interrupted.

"Captain. To put it bluntly, we don't care. If it gets you out of our hair for the time being, do what you need to do. You're dismissed," one of the councilmen interrupted.

Peterson smirked and saluted before walking out the door into one of the many hallways of the _Hope_. _Now to get to work,_ he thought before heading down to the hangar holding the _Shroud_.

{-}

As I lay on the cot in the basement of the library, I went over the day's events. _One hectic day_, I mentally concluded.

After heading into the library, Twilight had offered some food as a sort of apology. I was a little skeptical of eating grass, but luckily they had other fruit and vegetables besides the lawn weed. I couldn't say no, and was a welcome change to the daily MREs I had been eating. _All the technology and we still can't make them taste worth shit,_ I thought. After a short conversation and Rainbow quickly preventing a Q&A session, I found myself down here in the basement. The time passed quickly as I laid on the bed thinking. I looked up to the clock on the wall that was in the room and saw it was coming to about 6:00. _Must be getting dark,_ I thought.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the door to the basement open and footsteps… hoofsteps down the stairs. I looked over the see Rainbow walking my way from the stairs. She stopped a few feet away from the bed looking off to the side and towards the floor, a slight blush only barely visible. I turned my gaze back up towards the ceiling, part of me hoping she would leave, the other silently hoping she'd start talking. The other got its wish.

{-}

Rainbow opened the door to the library's basement and made her way down the stairs. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Star looking over. She made her way to a few feet away from the cot before stopping. She felt a bit anxious and flustered, but managed to compose herself.

"I came down to check on how you're doing," she said softly. "You've been down here for a while and I was about to head home."

Star merely laid there staring up at the ceiling. She continued, "I just wanted to thank you again for saving me and to apologize for what I did. It wasn't right."

He still continued his gaze into the ceiling. "Well, I'm going to go," she said, starting to walk to the stairs. "Bye, I guess."

_Thi_s_ was stupid,_ she thought as she slowly made her way towards the stairs. _He doesn't want to talk to you. He probably doesn't feel the same way towards you. Just look how nervous he was on the way back. I shouldn't have kissed him. So stupid!_

Rainbow made it to the foot of the stairs before she was stopped by a word. "Don't."

She turned around, finding Star still staring at the ceiling. "Huh?" she replied. He exhaled before continuing.

"Don't second guess your decisions. You did what you felt was right," Star said, eyes still on the ceiling. "If you start second guessing you'll get less daring, take less risks. You'll start being someon… somepony you're not."

Rainbow was a bit confused at what he was saying. Star looked over and picked up the confusion on her face. "Heh… I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't change," he said before turning over. "Have a nice night."

"Oh, um… yeah. Heh, good night," she said before continuing up the stairs.

She opened the door, taking a quick look back down before closing the door thinking; _maybe he does feel the same…_

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**Well, there we go. The WAY overdue chapter 9. I kinda left some stuff out about what was holding me up. On top of finishing some games, I also had a college algebra exam and some high school projects to do. Didn't help that there was some writer's block and laziness involved. As for the disclaimer, for any too lazy to go translate, it says 'go read the other disclaimers'. Hurray for Spanish 1. Also, any ideas as to what to name this chapter? I'm at a loss of 'cool' names. PM me if you have an idea. I know it's cheap, but meh. It's a win-win. Reader's get a chance to name a chap, I get to take a break. Well, that's that. Until next time, Arwingmaster1 out.**


	11. The Ticket Master

**A/N: Holy crap! A chapter over 4,000 words!? GASP. Well, it's that time again. Got a little sidetracked, but for good reasons. I had a TON of school work to finish. Lots of 80% test grades and 9 weeks tests. With those out-of-the-way, though, I will be able to continue to type my fingers off. Unfortunately for me and you, well… maybe just you, I have retrieved a copy of Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption and I have modded the CRAP out of it. Heh… all my ships look like Halo ships. It's great. Another thing, I've been working with Google Sketchup, a free modeling software, and Blender, a free animation and rendering software, to hopefully make some CG artwork and, this is dreaming big here, some animations. As for the story, I've decided that when I do rewrite original episodes, they probably won't be in order according to the canon, and by that I mean if I have my way, we should be up to Discord in no time flat. I have reasons for it. But hey, you're reading, I'm writing. Now onto the review responses!**

**ShiningShadow1965: Yep. Though I will divulge some information that I hope I won't have to change. Peterson isn't going to find Michael/Star for a few chapters. Gotta decrypt those MV logs and get a crew, which (might) take a bit of time. Thanks as well.**

**DatAss111: Sorry for the wait. I can assure you my fingers haven't fallen off (yet). Thank you for being 'kinda' worried.**

**Skullcrusher206: Thanks. I hoped I got him right. I hope that you are in no way mad/disgruntled/upset that Star beat Silent. I just couldn't have it the other way around. I mean, c'mon, traveling around different universes you pick up lots of skills. Also… Y UZ HATINZ ON CHEMZ?! I really liked my chemistry class.**

**Bleak98: Short, simple and sweet. I like it. Thank you.**

**Apollyon602: Thanks. I'm glad you like it. As for your P.S., there was no way Gunner (or any Human OC for that matter) is going to avoid that mission.**

**PS: I'm sorry Shadow, but I can't bring the entire Dragon tears company. Just Burt and Vic. The ****_Shroud_**** will basically be running a skeleton crew, and that's and overstatement. She's going to be undermanned the next time she leaves the ****_Hope_****, and that will, after something I have planned happens to them, be some use for the ****_Faith_****.**

**Well, once again I managed to waste an entire page in Word to this, so I think I'll just get on with the chapter.**

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**Disclaimer: Oh disclaimer, how can I forget thee…**

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Ch 10: The Ticket Master

I awoke the next morning to a noise that slightly pleased me. Silence. Nice, peaceful silence. I turned and looked at the clock. _11:00 am? Damn, I overslept,_ I thought as I pulled myself of the bed. I stood there for a bit recalling yesterday's events. Yelled at their princess, beat up some wood wolves, almost slit someone's throat, and came to terms of my feelings toward a certain one of these ponies. All in all, not a bad day. I definitely had seen worse. I started my way up the stairs when I noticed a piece of paper with 'Star' written on it. _Hmm, Twilight or someone must have slipped it under the door._

_Star, _I started reading, _when you wake and read this, I would like to ask you a few questions. If I'm at the library, disregard the letter. If I'm not, then I'm out with Applejack. Please come find me. Signed, Twilight._

"Gee, more questions," I muttered in false enthusiasm to myself as I opened the door. I looked around the library and saw why it was quiet. "Still must be out."

Not feeling the real urgency to answer more questions, I took some time to look over myself as I really hadn't had the time or objects to do so before. Too busy sneaking around and such. Walking over to the mirror I get a look at myself. _Not bad,_ I thought, then turning my attention over to the cloak. "Definitely need to get it worked on."

My attention was caught by a lump in the fabric. I thought for a moment of what it was, then face-palmed, remembering the wings. _How could I forget that_, I thought. I removed the cloak to inspect them further, remembering one had broken in the pelican crash a week ago. As the cloak fell to the ground, I noticed the injured wing was bandaged. "Must have put it on when I was unconscious in that hospital," I thought aloud. I assumed it was healed as I hadn't noticed any pain from it in some time.

After some fumbling around, the bandages finally fell to the floor, revealing what I believed to be a fully healed wing. Curiosity took hold as I experimentally tried to move my wings. Surprisingly, both responded like second nature. _Maybe I can get some use out of these. Not much use if I don't use them. _My thought strayed as my eyes caught hold of something further down. _When the HELL did I get a tattoo on my ass?!_ I thought back as to when I might have EVER gotten one.

As I was thinking, I realized that most all the ponies I had seen had one. _Hmm, I'll have to look further into it later,_ I thought. I made my way up to the mirror so I didn't have to crane my neck to look at it and took in the details. Right on by posterior was the insignia of the UUA with United Universal Alliance spelled out under it and above, the rank of fleet admiral with the small symbol of the first fleet out beside the rank. _Still definitely have to wear the cloak,_ I thought. _They might ask what it means and I don't think I can pull myself out of that one._ So I pulled the cloak back on, leaving the hood off, and made my way out the door to find Twilight.

As I made my way through Ponyville towards where I remember Applejack's farm was, I noticed significantly less stares then yesterday despite the mild brawl and myself holding a knife to someone's throat. _Man, either they all have pretty bad cases of memory loss, or they forgive and forget pretty damn quickly._

As I took in the surroundings while I walked, I noticed a pony who had been tailing me ever since I left the library. Upon glancing at who it was, I chuckled slightly. "You know Silent, you don't have to sneak around to keep an eye on me," I said, addressing the pony trying to blend in behind me. "Walking beside me and having a conversation would do."

Silent hesitated, then sighed before walking up to me, "Well, I suppose that would alleviate some of my hassle."

I noticed he wasn't in his armor that he was in yesterday. "What gets you out of the armor?" I inquired.

"Well," he started, "I figured it would help me blend in. Also helps with questions from the residents as to why a guard is running around here and not back up in Canterlot."

"Yeah, I bet the odd wings help with that," I motioned to his wings, "and the rather dark complexion doesn't exactly help you blend in."

He nodded slightly before continuing, "So, what are you doing?"

"Twilight left me a letter this morning to meet with her for further inquiries," I replied as we continued our way towards my destination. "I swear she is the second most questioning pe-" I quickly corrected myself, "-pony I know."

"Second? Who's the first?"

My mind fell back on someone before the UIF broke off. I smiled briefly, but it disappeared when I remember who they had become. I stopped and looked over to Silent before continuing in a more somber tone, "Someone from my past. Heh, here's hoping none of you have to meet him." I was hoping he'd drop the subject after that, but I had no such luck.

"And why's that?"

I thought for a moment, looking at Silent who seemed to be noting everything I was saying in his head. No doubt going to report it back to their princess. _Sly bastard,_ I thought. _Turned this into an interrogation._ I was going to put an end to that.

"Personal reasons."

"Is every question we ask personal," he asked, slightly annoyed.

I smiled a bit, seeing him slightly annoyed at me and continued, "Everything so far."

Silent gave an inaudible sigh as he heard my answer. We continued to walk the rest of the way in silence.

As we were nearing the apple orchard, I saw Rainbow Dash dart the other direction, towards Ponyville. After the slight bit of confusion, I turned back towards where she came from only to be run over by an orange blur, knocking me onto the ground.

"Ugh," I groaned, picking myself off the ground and shaking off the slight pain in my head. "What hit me?"

I looked up, seeing Silent grinning, holding back a laugh. He gestured to his left, where Applejack was quickly picking herself up.

"Ah'm sorry Star, didn't mean to run into ya like that," she said, wasting no time getting back on her way, "kinda in a hurry."

"Hey!" I called out while she was running off, "Where's Twilight?"

"That's where ah'm goin," she called back, running full speed towards Ponyville.

I sighed and turned towards Silent, who had regained his composure. "You coming?"

"Do I even have to answer," he replied. At that, we made our way back towards Ponyville.

As we walked through Ponyville, Silent broke off, saying he had some 'business' to take care of. _No doubt going to send a message to their princess_, I thought. Looking up, I noticed the progressive buildup of clouds just a bit away and a familiar blue blur zipping back and forth between the cluster and somewhere else. _What's she doing?_ I looked under the darkening cloud and noticed Twilight sitting with Spike at a table in front of what I assumed was a restaurant. _Ah, there she is._

As I walked towards her, I noticed Dash had stopped flying back and forth and there was a hole in the rather large cloud, that I was now under, right above Twilight. _What-_? Before I could finish the thought, rain started to pour from the cloud, soaking me and the cloak in a torrent of water. I continued my trek up to Twilight, starting to hear their conversation. "- by doing me extra special favors, are you?"

"_Me_? No no no, of course, not," she replied quickly.

"Uh-huh," Twilight commented, seemingly not convinced.

"Seriously," Rainbow continued in her defense, "I'd do it for anypony."

I butted in at this time. "Anypony, huh?"

"Oh!" Rainbow exclaimed, blushing slightly as she quickly made her way to the part of the cloud above me and created a small hole, sunlight peeking through the breach in the cloud. "Heh, sorry."

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I really didn't mind in the first place," I said, walking from under the clear spot back into the rain, closer to Twilight. I turned the conversation towards her, "You said you wanted to ask a few more questions?"

"Um.. oh, yes I did. That is, if you didn't mind," she said, a bit of anxiety in her expression.

"Well," I started, "I don't think I would be here speaking with you about it if I didn't mind a few impersonal questions."

"Oh, thank you! Just one sec," Twilight said, now looking up to Rainbow. "Rainbow, I'm not comfortable with accepting unwanted favors, so I'd appreciate if you closed up that rain cloud right now."

_Bad call,_ I thought.

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow replied before closing up the cloud. Twilight nodded in approval, only to have the smile wiped off as rain began to pour down on her head not a moment after, effectively soaking her.

"Welcome to the party," I said jokingly, Twilight smirking at the joke as she got on her hooves. "I think this conversation would be better to have inside," I suggested.

"I think so as we-" Twilight wasn't able to finish agreeing as she was cut off by a familiar fashion-obsessed marshmallow white unicorn.

"Twilight, it's raining" Rarity stated.

_What gave you that idea,_ I questioned mentally towards Rarity's rather obvious statement. Twilight was apparently thinking the same thing as she didn't keep her sarcasm to herself.

"No, really?"

Rarity either didn't notice the sarcasm or ignored it completely as she continued, "Come with me before you catch a cold."

I was about to object to this, but as I opened my mouth to speak, Twilight quickly spoke up, "Actually, I was about to head back to the library so I can ask Star a few more questions."

"But, Twil-" Rarity began.

I was surprised to find myself being pushed along by Twilight while she was rapidly spouting out words. "I'm sorry, but I've got a lot of stuff to do and all on top of speaking with Star." By now, the rain had stopped and the clouds were being cleared away. "Also, I'm pretty hungry and was going to eat some lunch at the library."

"Did somepony say lunch?"

"You've got to be kidding me," she said under her breath.

I started to tone out the conversation, as all the stops and 'favors' were getting pretty annoying. Obviously Twilight thought they were too as I heard her finish an exclamation not long after. "In fact, I'm less sure now than I was this morning!"

She started to walk off and I took this as my cue to follow. After walking in silence for a bit, I decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, what was that and all the favors about?"

"Well, this morning, when I was finishing helping Applejack, I received a letter from the Princess and two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala," she started to explain.

_Gala? Must be some big fancy dance._ "So, only two?" I inquired further.

"Yes, and since… wait, you're not going to ask for the ticket, are you?" She asked, donning a nervous expression.

"Oh no. I have no interest in going to a gala. I really don't consider myself a dancer," I replied, Twilight relaxing instantly.

"Oh good. That's what this is about. All my friends have really good reasons to go, but I only have the two tickets. I can't choose, and constantly getting favors from them isn't helping," she further explained.

"Well, I hope you find a relief soon," I said as we arrived at the front door of the library.

"Thanks," she replied, opening the door. We both looked inside to see Fluttershy humming to a tune and cleaning with a few animals.

Twilight gasped slightly before asking, "Fluttershy, not you too?"

_Oh, boy._ "Well," I started. "I'll be on my way and let you handle this. Plus, this doesn't really seem to be a good time for questions with all this."

Twilight nodded and walked closer to Fluttershy, striking up a conversation as I closed the library door.

_Now what to do,_ I thought to myself. After walking aimlessly for a while, I decided that I could check up on the pelican and maybe get started on repairs. Plus, I hadn't changed back in a while, and fingers sounded like a blessing at the moment.

By the time I reached the crash, the sun was getting pretty close to setting. _I'll start heading back when it gets dark._ I gave the ear communicator, which I was surprised Twilight or anyone didn't notice it, a slight tap before saying, "Fi, do you read?"

There was a short pause before the AI's familiar voice came out the ear bud, "Loud and clear. You know, it's getting pretty lonely up here. No one else to talk to."

I smiled a bit, "Sorry about that. Anything new?"

"One or two things," she replied. "The MAC's gun is cleared and the drones are finishing up repairs, and we have slip-space capabilities again. The MV drive is a different matter. Most of the damaged parts are irreplaceable with what we have. Long story short, we're stranded till we're picked up."

"That's problematic," I said half to myself. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let's first off get me ship side before we worry about that." I turned and started walking towards the pelican before continuing. "Fi, are the _Faith_'s sensors picking anything nearby?"

Another short pause. "Yes, lots of animal life. None of them matches any species of ponies. Why?"

"Because, I'm going to start working on the pelican, and for that, I need hands," I replied, taking the cloak off and changing myself back to my familiar, bi-pedal self, silently thanking the clothes somehow stayed. After flexing a few joints and stretching, making sure everything worked, and receiving a few pops and cracks in response, I got to work on the pelican.

{-}

"Piece… of… SHIT!" I exclaimed, throwing the tool to the ground. "Nope, I am DONE with this right now!"

The past few hours hadn't been pleasant. What looked like simple fixes on the diagnostics had turned into a crap fest of problems that were going to take a lot longer to fix than anticipated, and having something break right after fixing another problem wasn't helping.

I looked up to the sky and saw that it had gotten dark, the lights on the pelican keeping me from noticing it earlier. _Might as well head back._

With that, I changed back to Star, threw the cloak back on, and made my way back to the library.

I was thankful no one was out at this point, because I really didn't want to answer any questions as to why I was out. I laughed to myself. _Silent is going to have a field day trying to figure out where I was. _Then the thought hit me in a different way. _Damnit, Silent is going to have a field day trying to figure out._ I pushed the thought aside, deciding I was going to burn that bridge with napalm and a ton of C-12 when I got to it.

As I arrived at the library, I heard multiple happy voices coming from inside. _Must have figured out their ticket dilemma_, I thought as I opened the door. All heads turned towards me as I walked in. Twilight spoke up shortly after that.

"Hey Star! Where have you been?" She inquired, all the others looking me down, waiting for an answer.

"I've been… working on something," I replied as I made my way to the door of the basement.

_"_On what?" She continued.

_Oh please drop it._ "Personal stuff," I said.

Thankfully she didn't dig further, just simply nodding. As I opened the door, though, I was interrupted. "Oh Star. We have something for you."

With that, Spike walked over and handed me a piece of paper. Before I could read what it said, Twilight took the liberty to explain what it was. "You know how I only received two tickets for the gala and couldn't decide who to take?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, when I wrote the princess back in my friendship report, sending the tickets back, she sent enough tickets for all of us to go, including you. So, that's your ticket," she said, quite happy with her explanation of events. "So, will you be going?"

I stared down at the ticket. "Uh… I don't know…" I looked back up to the girls, and guilt washed over me upon seeing their faces. _Damnit, I'm going to regret this later._ "I'll think about it."

By the expression on their faces, I could tell it wasn't exactly the answer they wanted, but it was enough to get them to stop pouting at me. As they turned back towards each other, I made my way down the stairs and into the bed. Before I could completely relax, I heard the door open and once again Rainbow came down the stairs.

"So, is this going to become a regular thing or something?" I joked as I turned slightly upright and faced her way. At that, she blushed furiously and quickly looked towards the ground. "No, I didn't mean… I mean I didn't-"she started to ramble.

I laughed slightly before cutting her short. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, I came down here to ask you, if… um… you could…" she started, but quickly started stuttering.

"If I could what?" I inquired, trying to get the rest of the request out of her mouth.

After rubbing one of her hooves on the ground for a bit she continued, "…if you could go to the gala with... with me?"

The question hit me like a ton of bricks. _Shit,_ I thought. Before I could get another thought in, Rainbow continued, "I know you said you would think about it, but I just wanted to know." She turned and continued, "It's fine if you don't answer."

As she started to walk off, my mind was racing. _I like her, and it's apparent she has feelings for me, but do I feel the same. This would be basically like a date._ She reached the stairs. _What would others think if they ever found me, well, when they find me? Why do I care what they would think? _Half way up the stairs._ I'd have to tell her the truth at some point. Fuck, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it._

"Rainbow."

At the sound of her name, she came back down to the bottom of the stairs. I took a deep breath and sighed before continuing on with my answer.

"I'll… I'll go with you."

Not moments after the answer had left my mouth, I found myself tense as Rainbow held me in a hug. After a few seconds of being tense from the sudden embrace, I relaxed and, slowly, returned the hug.

After a few seconds, she pulled away, and after a quick 'thank you', she quickly made her way up the stairs and out the door. As I heard the door shut I laid back down and got ready for some shut-eye, but was once again interrupted, this time by Fi's voice over the communicator.

"You know you'll have to tell her at some point."

I let out another sigh. "I know," I said, rolling over. "I know."

{-}

Princess Luna stared at the night sky through her telescope on top of one of Canterlot's towers. This would be one of her favorite past times, staring at her nightly creation. This time though, she wasn't simply looking, she was searching.

Ever since she had gotten back, she had felt something else in her nightly domain, and every now and again, it made itself more prominent. So for the past week, every night she had been looking up to the sky to find this unfamiliar object, so far with no luck. Every time she knew she was close, she lost it.

_Not this time_, she thought as she continued to feel and scan the sky, determined to find her mystery object. As she passed over the sky above Ponyville, where she had felt it the strongest, something caught her eye. Something shiny, and, as she zoomed in on it, big, REALLY big. _What is that?!_ As she increased the magnification on the telescope, she saw more details on the giant. It had what looked like numerous holes, protrusions, and burnt spots dotting its surface. As she made her way up the side, something caught her eye again. Writing, and not some unreadable markings. Right on the side, three words were written in Equestrian plain as day on the side.

"Tia!" She called out to her sister. As she rushed through the castle, three words were running through her head.

_Column of Faith._

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**Well, another chapter. This was more difficult than anticipated. On top of school work, just when I thought I was done typing, I thought of more stuff to add. So yeah, great time. Also, working with the actual transcript and changing it to fit the story was harder than expected. Well, that's all for now. Arwingmaster1, out.**


	12. Dragonshy

**A/N: Well, I've decided. I'm never working on this again…**

**Just kidding, though writing it is becoming more laborious than previously expected. Bad news, I'm currently enrolled in a college English class in which there will be LOTS of reading and writing… of essays; so instead of helping, it's hurting the progress of the story. I'll see if I can work around it or something. Next, modeling a Paris-class heavy frigate in detail using a combination of blender and google sketchup is HARD. Good thing though, it's almost done and when it is, a CG pic or animation will be posted on deviant and/or youtube. Secondly, if you hadn't seen it up before, I posted another drawing on deviantart a while back. I mean a WHILE back. My sister drew it. Finally, I'm going to stop promising these chapters in a given time period. I obviously suck at keeping a schedule. Well, onto review responses.**

**Skullcrusher206: Well, that was a rant. I feel your pain. Some classes in school can be a drag and feel like it's useless , but it's necessary. Just look at me. I've survived 12 years of it and still have college to go. Now about the battle, I mean give Michael some credit. He's traveled between multiple universes and seen more in a week than probably anyone has seen in a lifetime. Thank you as well. Happy REALLY late Hearth's warming, a late New Year, and every other day we've passed!**

**ShiningShadow1965: Yep, and that continues in the beginning of this chapter, mainly because I'm too lazy to go add it to the end of the last. I'm not sure Twilight could get Star strapped down. Also, thank you again for a positive review.**

**Mooneyboys: I don't know! I'm a hypocrite really. I hate cliffhangers, but I write them in my story. Shame on me. Thank you as well!**

**Major Simi: Well, not a date. He's still unsure how far the feelings run, like if it's a close friendship or is it love. That'll be resolved later. Thanks!**

**Apollyon602: Thanks as well! Lots of trouble later hopefully. Sorry for worrying you. I don't have any intentions on just stopping, and if I did, I would say something about it. I will keep it up.**

**RenaTamer: Well, the way I hope I can get the story to go, it will be some time story wise before they figure out, though they will have their suspicions. Also, nice Spaceballs reference there, got to love Mell Brooks.**

**Wwrig18: Thanks! I thought I was getting a bit rough with writing pace, so many more thanks.**

**Well, once again I manage to waste about whole page and 300 words. Time to hit the story!**

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**Disclaimer: These disclaimers are pointless. No one but the lawyers read them, and everyone knows I don't own any copyrighted crap, but every once in a while, I have to be specific, lest I be sued. I don't own any of the My Little Pony characters or the MLP storyline. I don't own the Paris-class frigate design either. You're welcome Lauren Faust and Bungie/343i.**

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**You know, I haven't done this part in a while.**

Patterns of Speech:

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

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Ch 11: Dragonshy

Celestia was planning on having a wonderful night's sleep. After listening to numerous arguments and confrontations, she was exhausted. It hadn't been long since she had wished her sister a good night, who was at the time feverously scanning the skies, for what, Celestia didn't know. But now, all she cared about was getting a good rest. As she was closing her eyes, though, she was startled as Luna loudly opened the door, panting a good bit.

"What is it?" Celestia asked, worried a bit at her sister's sudden appearance.

Luna took a few breaths to slow her breathing before continuing, "Tia, come quickly. There's something you need to see."

"What is it?" She asked as she quickly got out of the bed, noticing the concern in her sister's voice.

"I'll explain on the way. Hurry, before I lose it," Luna replied, starting to walk to the tower.

Celestia picked up the pace to catch up before asking again, "What is the matter?"

"For just over a week now, ever since I've been back, I've been feeling something strange in the night sky. Something unfamiliar," Luna replied.

"Well," Celestia started, "it has been a thousand years since you last had domain over the night. Things might have changed."

"Well, yes. You're right in a way," Luna continued, "Some things may be slightly different and out-of-place, but it's all still familiar. What I've been feeling is completely different. It's never been there before."

"Well, what is it?" Celestia asked, trying to get to the point.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out for the past week or so. I've been searching the skies for it every night. At points I can just barely feel it, but them at times it become blaringly obvious just for the shortest times. I was starting to let my hopes down when I finally found it," Luna explained as they arrived at the top of the tower, walking over to the telescope. She took a quick look to make sure it was still there before calling Celestia over. "Here, take a look."

Celestia did as she asked and lowered her head down to the eyepiece, peering through to see what had gotten Luna so concerned. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, but when it did, Celestia's jaw dropped. "W...what is THAT? It's HUGE!" She asked, not taking her eye away from the telescope.

"I believe it's some form of vessel or ship, if the lights are of any indication that there's somepony or someTHING aboard it," Luna replied.

Celestia took a closer look at it and found Luna's words to be true as there were many specks of light dotting the surface, though that's not all she noticed. Although there hadn't been a war for many MANY years in Equestria, long before she came to rule, Celestia was not unfamiliar to some aspects of it. Seeing the griffons' own military machines further enlightened her on the subject. She could tell this… ship, was meant for war, as she saw what looked like many LARGE cannons on some parts of the surface along with numerous, harder to see smaller ones. Also, the fact that, if the burnt spots and holes weren't of the original design, it seemed like it had been attacked, which further reinforced her assumptions. As she made her way to what she assumed the front of the large object, something caught her eye. "Is that…?"

"Equestrian writing?" Luna finished the question. "Yes, that's one of the things that had gotten me to come get you, among more obvious reasons."

Celestia continued to look at the writing on the side, still baffled it was in their language. _We could try to contact them,_ she thought. _They MUST speak the same language if we write it the same. But, what if they're hostile and see an attempt of communication a threat?_ _And what if whatever did this to it shows up?_ The more she thought about it, the more it troubled her. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke, "Luna, I think it best that we have any observatories available keep an eye one this... war-vessel and keep it a secret from the public eye. It might cause a severe panic if they knew that there is possibly another form of life drifting in the stars above." Luna nodded in agreement before Celestia continued.

"I also believe we shouldn't attempt to communicate. They might be hostile, and we don't know what whoever-they-are can do."

Again, Luna nodded in agreement, "Yes, I agree. I've cast a spell on the telescope so it will follow it if it moves, that way we won't lose track of where it is. I'll alert the observatories and make them take a vow of secrecy."

Celestia nodded before Luna took off in flight towards the closest observatory. Before she started back towards her room, she looked up to the skies for one last time, concerned on what was to come.

{-}

**3 weeks later…**

I eased myself out of the cot, as I had done for the past four weeks now. If there wasn't something weird going on in town, I found myself falling into a pattern. Waking up, eating one of the MREs secretly stashed away under the dresser in the basement, going up and talking with Twilight if she was home, going out and talking with a number of residents, Silent included, who refuses to give up trying to find out my full story. Then I would either head back to the library and read up on the ponies' literature and history, or I would evade Silent and head of to the pelican to continue the bothersome repairs.

A few of the days though were worth noting. One day, Applejack had worn herself to dazed with work, refusing help. On another, I met a second species that lived here, Fi labeled them griffins, like from my universe's earth's greek or roman mythology; which one, I couldn't remember. The griffon, Gilda I think her name was, was a bit of a, to put it simply, an asshole.

Looking back on the weeks, I was surprised with how much relatively happened. _Well, at least it's not boring_, I thought as I walked up the stairs, deciding not to eat one of the few MREs left. _Need to save those. I don't want to be stuck eating grass every day._

As I exited the basement, I noticed Twilight, well, mainly Spike, packing a saddle bag. Twilight was reading over a piece of parchment she held in front of her with her magic, and noticed what I came to know as the princess' seal on it._ Oh boy, it's one of THOSE days_, I thought as I made my way over to Twilight.

"Good morning," I said, slightly startling Twilight as she had been too engrossed in reading the letter to notice my presence.

"Dear Celestia, you scared me," Twilight pointed out the painfully obvious fact.

"Yeah, I couldn't tell," I replied sarcastically, receiving an eye-roll from Twilight before I continued. "What's the letter for?"

"It's from Princess Celestia. She has a task of importance that she wants the girls and me to complete," she answered.

I just stood there staring, expecting her to continue, but she just turned back to Spike, telling him what to place in the bags. After a bit she turned back around and gave me a look of confusion. "Um, what?" she inquired.

"Well, what I do is when somepony is interested in something, I usually give them details," I replied.

"Oh! Well, she has asked us to handle a… 'little' problem involving a dragon. I was about to go and tell the girls."

"Wait, 'little'? When are dragons little? Wouldn't they be, I don't know, BIG problems?" I asked as Twilight made her way towards the door. "And why would she have you handle this? Wouldn't she be the one to handle problems like this?"

"Normally, yes," Twilight began, opening the door to the library, "but she's out on important business and needs us to handle it."

_Now I KNEW it was going to be one of those days, _I thought. "Well, I've got nothing special planned for today," I said as I started to follow Twilight.

"Um, where are you going?" Twilight asked as I walked past her.

I stopped and turned to face her. "I thought my intentions was pretty clear in that statement," I said. "But if I must elaborate, I've got nothing really to do today, so I've decided I'm coming with you."

"Um, I don-"

"And there's nothing you can say to dissuade me," I said before she could start her objection.

Twilight sighed. "Fine," she said before turning back and shouting inside. "I'm going to go tell the girls. I'll be back."

There was a muted 'ok' before she closed the door and we were on our way. As we made our way towards town, I noticed it was a bit darker than usual at this time of day. I looked up and saw a large amount of smoke obscuring the sun, all of it leading back to a mountain a ways off.

"So, what type of dragon problem are we talking about? Ravaging towns, major destruction?" I asked.

"No. There's a dragon sleeping on the mountain and his snoring is creating an enormous amount of smoke. We have to get him to find somewhere else to sleep or all of Equistria will be covered in smoke for the next hundred years," Twilight replied, slightly picking up the pace.

_Oh… it's one of THOSE kind of crazy days, _I thought with much exasperation as I quickened my pace to keep up with Twilight.

I soon found us nearing Fluttershy's cottage and, conveniently, the rest of the group was all there near there, babbling among themselves. Twilight continued up to the group, but I stopped when Fi's voice came from the communicator. I she spoke, I put a hoof up to muffle the voice.

"Sir, you could just use the _Faith_ to solve this problem. We need to do some live fire tests to see the weapons system's operational status after the repairs, and a blast from one of the side guns would definitely get that dragon moving," Fi suggested.

"Yes, I know," I whispered, trying not to get the girl's attention, "but an explosion coming in the middle of nowhere originating from the sky would cause too much suspicion and panic. This is why I'm going with them, to make sure they don't get hurt. And if worse comes to worse, then we can fall back to excessive force."

"Alright sir, I'll be keep on standby and charge port guns, just in case. _Faith_ out," Fi said, cutting the link. As I set my hoof back down and started turning back towards the group, I noticed a pegasus just a ways off staring at me with wide eyes, as if they had just realized something extremely important. After a bit, he, or at least by the way their muzzle was shaped I assumed they were a he, started waving his hoof in a gesture for me to come.

"Hey, Twilight, I'll be right back. I'm just going to talk to somepony for a bit," I stated, not waiting for an answer as I made my way towards the pegasus. As I got closer, I took in more details. He coat was green and had hazel eyes. His mane was spikey and white with a light green 'stripe' down the center, his tail the same. His… cutie mark was what looked like two candies or cough drops, one wrapped, the other unwrapped. Probably cough drops.

As came up to him, he greeted me; a bit nervous, but it was hard to tell. "Hi. My names Cough Drop." _Called it._

Cough Drop extended a hoof, which I took and gave him a firm hoof-shake replying, "Star."

After we let go, there was a moment of brief silence that felt like an eternity. Since I didn't want to stand there all day, I decided to break it up. "So, what did you need? You called me over here for something, correct?"

"Well," he started," I just wanted to confirm some suspicions. You mind if I asked you a question?"

_Where is this going? _I thought before I replied. "No, I don't mind. Shoot."

"You see, I just wanted to know where someONE gets a low frequency ear communicator in a place like this," he said, gesturing to my ear. "I mean, you'd have to go pretty far to get one. Not really around here."

_How did he-_ I started to think before Fi's voice came over the bud again, this time at a lower volume. "He knows something Michael."

I opened my mouth to start questioning him, but was interrupted by Twilight calling out. "Hey Star, are you coming? I'm heading back to the library to pack the rest of my stuff."

"I'll meet you there," I called back, not taking my eyes off the pegasus. Back to Cough Drop, I asked, "Can you follow me for a sec?"

"Sure" was the reply I got back before I started to lead him between the buildings. I made a quick cut down an alley and, when he followed, I tackled him, pinning the pegasus down with my knife to his throat.

"Fi, is Silent anywhere near?" I asked Fi, making sure that the guard wasn't around before I start questioning.

There was a brief pause before the AI answered, "Scans say no, he's actually in the castle on that mountain. What did they call it, Canterlot? Yeah. Anyways no, he's not."

_Good,_ I thought before starting, "Ok. I don't know who you are or what you know, but you're going to help me find out. Who are you REALLY and how do you know about the communicator?"

"I told you, my name is Cough Drop," he answered as he tried to squirm away from the sharp edge of the knife.

"No! Who are you really? How do you know about the communicator? Are you with the UIF?" I asked, pressing the knife a bit harder, almost drawing blood.

At the implication on my stand of the UIF, he visual seemed to relax despite there being a knife pressed against his throat.

"My name," he started, "is Tanner Orenski, and no, I'm not with the UIF. Far from it. Before I lived here, I lived aboard Ishumyra Station with my parents above Centara."

With that statement I slowly began releasing the pressure of the knife on his neck, but not fully removing it, his statement still sinking in. "But, when Reighton attacked Centara, Ishumyra was-"

"Destroyed. Along with every other station and defense platform. I know, I was aboard the only escape pod to make it into an MV portal," he said, the emotional pain apparent in his voice.

"Sir, he checks out," Fi's voice again emanated from the ear bud. "I checked the onboard records. There was a Tanner Orenski on Ishumyra when the attack occurred and is listed missing, not dead."

After giving him another look over, I sheathed the knife and helped him up. Cough Drop, or Tanner, dusted himself off before continuing, "Well, you know who I am. I hope you don't mind me asking you to return the favor."

I took a quick peek around to see if any wandering eyes were watching before pulling back part of the cloak, revealing my 'cutie mark' as to extinguish any doubt he might have had over my next sentence. "I'm High Fleet Admiral Michael, leader of the First Fleet and any accompanying fleets of the UUA."

At the statement, Cough Drop's eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're THE Admiral Michael!? As in the founder of the UUA Admiral Michael!?" he questioned, a little too loudly.

"SHH! Yes, the one and only, now keep it down," I ordered in a hushed voice.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly. "So, why are you here? Has the UIF made it out to here?"

"No, they haven't," I replied, getting a look of relief from Tanner. "As to why I'm here, I kind of got myself stranded."

This elicited a confused look from Tanner, "Um, how exactly?"

I was about to explain the entirety of the situation to him had I not heard my 'name' called out.

"Star!"

I turned my head to see Rainbow Dash not too far away. "Hey, are you coming? Twilight and the rest of the group are all ready to go!"

I turned back to Tanner before continuing, "Looks like I'll owe you a story."

He smiled, "Yeah. You might want to get going; Rainbow isn't exactly the patient type."

I gave him a nod before I began to start off on my way, but was stopped when Tanner called back out, "Hey Admiral."

I turned around as he continued, "I noticed your wings when you should me your cutie mark. You might want to learn how to use them, so you don't raise any suspicion. They're a big help too with a lot of things."

"Alright, I'll take your word on that," I replied, restarting my way back to where Rainbow was waiting.

{-}

Luna, in a word, was bored. Tia had asked her, much to her dislike, not to help with the Elements' task of regarding the dragon unless absolutely necessary, and until her nightly duties came, she had nothing to do but continue reading about the 1000 years of history she missed and keep an eye on the vessel, surprisingly still visible during the light of daytime.

During these times, she had, along with others that knew of the ship and were sworn to secrecy, worked out about how long it was, as 'huge' really isn't a viable measurement. Figuring out how long it was wasn't really that difficult, a few days after its discovery, the estimation was already at a safe 500 meters long, and hasn't changed much since, give or take a few meters.

At the current moment, Luna was delving into what the library had on griffon history, mainly their wars. She had gotten to the point where she was so engrossed into the book, she almost started to not to notice things around going on around her. So when the telescope she had enchanted to follow the ship started to move slightly, she nearly threw herself across the room to get to it. Sure enough, when she looked into the eyepiece, the ship seemed to be angling it-self, showing off more features as it brought its side parallel to the ground. As she looked closer, she noticed some of the objects that looked like the cannons from the book she was reading prior to the interruption were beginning to align themselves all to point in one direction. Luna looked up from the telescope, and following about the direction the cannons were pointing, found her gaze passing the cloud of smoke and landing on the smoke's origins, the mountain where the dragon was sleeping.

She looked back into the eyepiece at the ship, finding it once again motionless. _Oh, I don't like this_, Luna thought while she made her way back towards the book, hoping Celestia was right in asking her not to help.

{-}

"Guns are aligned and in position. Safeties are off and they're warming up. Awaiting orders," Fi announced as I fell back slightly from the group to answer.

"Copy that. Hold position and wait for further orders," I answered back before cutting the comm when one of the girls called out.

"Hey Star, you comin'?"

"Yeah, just stretching a bit," I called back, feigning to stretch.

Already the trip was turning into more of a hassle then I had previously planned it being. Getting up the mountain was becoming a pain. Fluttershy, the entire way so far, had been petrified at one point or another of either the dragon's snores or an obstacle in the way, and progress was slow, even to the point of crawling when the others had to push and drag her some of the way. _I know she's good with animals and all, but this is ridiculous_, I thought. Although I agreed with Rainbow at points when she whispered disapproval for bringing Fluttershy along, I kept my opinion about her being here unheard. If they were going to succeed in getting the dragon to move without me having to resort to the _Faith_, it was with her help.

I hadn't been paying attention to at the time, but was quickly broken out of my thoughts as the cave came in sight. Not soon after, there was what had been identified as a snore, which shook the ground of bit. _Damn. A snore that bad can't be healthy. That dragon might want to have that checked out,_ I thought, amusing myself. I heard a slight fuss behind me, and as I turned, I saw the whole group had run into each other, most likely due to Fluttershy's apparent sudden stop. After many complaints, most from Rainbow, and numerous apologies, all of which originated from Fluttershy, Twilight was back into her routine, handing out orders.

As she told each of the others their roles, I stepped back and found a comfortable place to watch them. As they were getting ready, I took the moment to check up on the unofficial backup plan.

"Fi, what's your status?"

There was a pause before Fi answered, "Port-side guns are warmed up and ready to fire on your mark. The MAC is warmed up as well, just in case, but I wouldn't use it if I were you until we get some test shots off, just to make sure it won't overload and explode."

"Copy your last. Be ready if this turns sour quickly," I replied before I cut the comm-link.

As I turned back around to face the girls, Twilight was making her way up to the dragon in the cave. _Here we go._ I looked over towards Fluttershy and saw that she, still shaking tremendously, had taken residence behind the rock I was leaning on.

Turning back towards the cave entrance, seeing that the smoke seemed to have lightened up, I heard Twilight speaking inside the cave, though the sound was muffled and inaudible. After a bit, there was some rustling coming from inside the cave, which I assumed was the dragon. Not soon after the rustling ended, a cloud of smoke exploded from the entrance of the cave, causing all of us to have a coughing fit as Twilight made her way quickly out of the smoke filled cave.

"So much for persuading him," Rainbow said, between coughs.

Applejack was the next to speak up, "Well, now what?"

I saw Rarity was about to say something, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash, "Enough wasting time. I'm going in!"

Before any of us could object, Dash had already flown into the cave, intent on getting the dragon to move her way.

_Damnit, Dash,_ I thought as I rushed towards the entrance of the cave. _She's going to get herself ki-_

I stopped just short of the entrance as there was a roar and was almost plowed over as Rainbow Dash came spinning out of the cave. After seeing her crash into the others I turned back to the cave, but found my view blocked by a large red object. My gaze continued upwards until it fell on the top of the dragon. _Oh damn…_ was all I thought as a clawed hand slammed against my side, throwing me into the rocks that Fluttershy was hiding behind.

_Every damn time,_ I thought as I painfully picked myself back up. A sharp pain went through my side, causing me to recoil a bit._ That's a few bruised ribs._ "Fi-" I started over the comm, but was quickly cut off.

"Already ahead of you. Port guns are armed and are locked on to the dragon, awaiting firing command," Fi interrupted.

I looked back to the situation at hand. The rather large dragon was making its way over to the scared shitless group of ponies. I was about to tell FI to open fire when Fluttershy beat me to the punch and did something I wasn't expecting.

She yelled at the dragon, and it worked.

"How dare you" she yelled as she came out from behind the rocks, quickly making her way up to the now astonished dragons face before continuing her rant. "Listen here, mister! Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully. You may have huge teeth, sharp scales, snore smoke, and breathe fire, but you do not—I repeat—You do NOT! Hurt! My! FRIENDS! You got that?!"

There was a slight pause where I could have sworn I heard the dragon whimper before Fluttershy asked again, "Well?"

"But that rainbow one kicked me," the dragon, not so surprisingly, said in his defense.

"And I am very sorry about that," Fluttershy answered back, a bit softer but still with a very berating tone. "But you're bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures."

Once again, the dragon tried arguing its stead, "But I—"

"Don't you 'but I' me, mister," Fluttershy interjected. "Now what do you have to say for yourself!?"

Just when I thought I couldn't see anything more astonishing, the dragon began to cry.

_Jesus, note to self, don't piss of Fluttershy,_ I thought. Seeing the same astonished looks on the other's faces, I took the chance to re-contact Fi. "Fi, power down weapons and move off. Dragon is no longer hostile. Do not fire."

"Copy that. Weapons cooling off and safeties re-engaged. We will need to do some test shots to calibrate targeting and function checks at some point," Fi said.

"I know. We'll get to that later when we can. Get the _Faith_ back into standard orbit," I ordered.

"Aye, sir" she replied, cutting the link.

Looking back up, I noticed the dragon making its way back into the cave while everyone was cheering. As Fluttershy came back down to the group, I made my way over, wincing at the pain coming from the more than likely bruised ribs. Rainbow seemed to notice the wince as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Just some bruised ribs." Looking back over to Fluttershy I continued, "So, what now?"

"Well, he understands he was wrong and he's packing his things," Fluttershy answered in her usual soft voice, a great contrast to what I had heard moments earlier.

"Now we go home and write to Princess Celestia," Twilight finished.

All the way back down the mountain, Rainbow had insisted on helping me every time I winced or looked uncomfortable. Finally making it back to the library, I took my leave as I headed straight down the stairs and to the comfort of the cot, soon finding myself in a deep, sleep.

{-}

Luna heaved out a sigh as she relaxed when she saw the ship move back to its previous position. As she looked at it one last time, she began to think. _Why did it move and, if those are guns, how would it know there was a threat on the mountain?_ The thought didn't last long as she noticed the time. _Oh crap, I'm late!_ She frantically thought as she rushed to raise the moon and usher in the night.

{-}

**UUA First Fleet**

**SFG-0041 ****_Under the Shroud_**

**Location: ****_Light of Hope_****_, _****hangar 19b.**

**Awaiting clearance for departure**

Peterson adjusted himself in his command chair as the bridge crew went over final preparations before departure. In the past 3 weeks, he hadn't seen much and was honestly a bore. He didn't have much of a problem finding a volunteer skeleton crew for the _Shroud_. After the announcement was made that he needed volunteers to crew the ship for a search and rescue mission to find Admiral Michael, there had surprisingly been no shortage of volunteers, a lot of which included most of all of the existing crew of the _Shroud_. There had even been multiple second-in-command officers from high ranking ships volunteer, which had to be turned down because of their battle experience. After all was done, he had a bit more than a skeleton crew aboard, some of them members who were already serving aboard the frigate.

Peterson let out a deep breath before ordering to Charles, "Status report."

Charles, who was probably the only one aboard who didn't want to be there, was now the tac-officer due to a lack of ones volunteering being approved. "Everything's green across the board. Generator is holding at standby power levels. Weapons are restocked and green. Engines are stable. Shields, cloak, MV drive, and FTL drives warming up. We are good to go. Any chance I can persuade you to let me off this suicide boat in the next 4 seconds?"

"Aw, and miss all the fun?" Burt chimed in as he made his way through the bridge up to Charles, giving him a rather rough pat on the back. "I just know you had so much fun on that last operation aboard the _Justice_ with us."

Charles spun his chair around, rubbing his back. "No. That was not fun you psychotic, suicidal maniac. Hell, I'd rather live the rest of my days stranded on an unknown planet if I knew I would NEVER have to go on another mission with any of you!" He turned towards Peterson, adding, "No offense Captain."

Peterson chuckled slightly at his outburst. "None taken. If you had done that on any other ship, I'm sure you would have been court martialed, or at least thrown in the brig."

"If it gets me away from HIM," Charles stated, pointing towards Burt, "and his group of suicidal shock troopers, then PLEASE follow protocol."

Peterson gave Burt a relaxed glare, to which Burt responded to with a grin. "C'mon Burt, give him a break," Peterson ordered. "Don't you have something to do?"

"No, sir," Burt replied. "We finished loading supplies 15 minutes ago. All of it is strapped down and ready to go."

"Well go find something to do, preferably not on the bridge," Peterson said in more of a suggestive tone, rather than an order.

Burt smirked. "Aye sir."

As Burt left the bridge, the volunteer comms officer spoke up. "Message from hangar control, sir. We are clear for departure ". After a slight pause, she continued, "Heh, you should see this sir. Pulling it up on main view screen".

Most of the bridge crew diverted their eyes to said display as the video feed pulled up. There, behind the safety glass of one of the observation platforms overlooking the hangar, stood quite a bit of men and women of all ranks saluting them off, many of them admirals and fellow captains while others engineers or warrant officers. Mingled amongst the military members were some civilians who knew Admiral Michael well. Even some children who were holding up a banner reading 'GOOD LUCK, CREW OF THE _SHROUD_' spelled out in bold letters.

Peterson smiled a wide grin before he started handing out orders. "Well, what are we waiting for? We can't disappoint. Disengage all locking clamps and clear us out of this hangar. Once we are out, spin up the MV drive and get us on our way."

The ensign looked up from the display towards the captain saying, "But, where to sir? We have at least 32 possible locations to check with more being decoded as we speak."

"Well, close your eyes and point to one. Let's let lady luck decide where to," Peterson replied, still grinning.

With that, the _Shroud_ shuttered as the locking clamps disengaged and the engines powered up, pushing the stealth frigate out of the shielded hangar door and into the MV portal opened moments later.

* * *

**Man, this chapter is LATE. And with just under 6000 words, it's the longest one yet. Sorry about the wait again. Didn't mean to take this long, but I've been really busy the past month. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Sorry if the ending felt a bit rushed. I started to run out of gas writing it. Other than that, this is Arwingmaster1, signing off with a Happy Hearts and Hooves Day!**


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